JUDGE ORDERS MAN TO WALK FREE AFTER 20 YEARS IN JAIL
Man freed of murder after more than 20 years in remand
After spending a little over two decades on remand and facing five failed trials, a man from Laventille accused of murdering his uncle has been freed following a civil lawsuit over breaches of his constitutional rights caused by the delay in prosecuting him.
Delivering a judgement against the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on Monday, High Court Judge Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell quashed the longstanding murder indictment against Kevon Nurse as she ruled that he would be prejudiced by facing a sixth trial.
Donaldson-Honeywell said: “The failure of the Defendant to discontinue the prosecution for the charge of murder against the Claimant was unreasonable in light of the delay, multiplicity of trials, failed convictions, the trial Judge’s comments on inconsistencies in the testimony of the main prosecution witness and prejudiced faced by the Claimant.”
In January 2001, Nurse was charged with murdering his uncle Lester Ash, who was shot dead at his home at Success Village in Laventille on Christmas Day in 2000.
The State was relying on the evidence of Ash’s 12-year-old neighbour, who claimed she briefly saw Nurse before he put on a ski mask and entered his house with a gun.
Nurse denied any wrongdoing but admitted that he had a confrontation with Ash hours before the incident and was beaten. He claimed that at the time of the murder he was seeking medical attention of the injuries he suffered in the scuffle with Ash.
Nurse’s first trial in 2002 was aborted. Almost a year later, Nurse faced a retrial and was convicted of the crime. His conviction was overturned on appeal and a retrial was ordered.
Nurse had two other trials that were aborted in 2008 and 2011. His fifth trial in 2019 ended with a hung jury, who could not decide on a unanimous verdict for him.
In the judgement, Justice Donaldson-Honeywell noted that the case passed through the hands of 20 judges including former President Anthony Carmona and current President Paula-Mae Weekes before Nurse mounted the civil legal challenge before her.
“The Claimant’s extensive time in detention without conviction is demonstrated by the transitions in the lives of many of the people involved in his matter,” Justice Donaldson-Honeywell said.
“The prosecution’s main witness went from being a child witness around the age of 12 to becoming an adult, moving abroad, getting married and having at least two children,” she added.
While the judge noted that some of the delays in Nurse’s case were due to him periodically not having legal representation and judges recusing themselves having represented or prosecuted him before joining the bench, she said that significant delays were due to the DPP’s Office problems with having the witness testify.
Justice Donaldson-Honeywell stated that due to the passage of time Nurse would face difficulties in proving his alibi as he lost contact with the witness that placed him at the hospital.
She agreed with Nurse’s lawyer Shaun Morris that the public interest in continuing the prosecution was outweighed by the prejudice suffered by him.
“It is clear, as suggested by the Claimant, that each successive trial has become increasingly oppressive, particularly as there is no change in the evidence being offered by the Defendant in addition to the failure to secure a conviction,” she said.
“The Defendant’s omission to sufficiently consider these relevant factors renders the decision to prosecute a sixth trial unreasonable,” she added.
While Justice Donaldson-Honeywell quashed Nurse’s indictment, he was not immediately freed as she granted a 28 day stay of execution of her judgement for the DPP’s Office to decide if it wants to appeal.
She also ordered the State to pay Nurse’s legal costs for bringing the lawsuit.
The DPP’s Office was represented by Mary Davis and Nairob Smart.
DEREK ACHONG