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FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 14, 2014
VOLUME 108, No.45
www.thevincentian.com
EC$1.50
The death penalty, in our case by hanging, remains on the law books of SVG.
by HAYDN HUGGINS
Frankie Joseph, Assistant Commissioner of Police incharge of crime, cited the Privy Council’s ruling in the ‘Compay’ case, as an indication of the Councils lack of sensitivity to the Caribbean reality.
TWO PROMINENT POLICE OFFICERS here would like to see the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) become this country’s final court of appeal. Assistant Commissioner of Police, in-charge of crime, Frankie Joseph, and head of the Major Crime Unit (MCU), Station Sergeant Trevor Bailey, are of the view that, while the death penalty is still on the law books, its implementation would be virtually impossible, once the British Privy Council remains this country’s final court of appeal. The officers were speaking with THE VINCENTIAN last Tuesday on the crime situation here, following three murders last weekend.
The ‘Compay’ case Joseph pointed to the Privy
Council’s ruling in the Daniel ‘Compay’ Dick Trimmingham’s case, to wit, that the crime he committed was not the ‘worst of the worst,’ and commuted Compay’s death sentence to life imprisonment. ‘Compay’ had been sentenced to death for the murder of Carriere livestock farmer Albert ‘Bertie’ Browne some years ago. He had disembowelled and beheaded the elderly man before burying his body and head in separate shallow graves in the Carriere Mountains. ‘Compay’ had appealed to the Privy Council after the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal upheld his conviction and sentence. The Privy Council upheld his appeal against sentence. Joseph questioned rhetorically, “If the crime ‘Compay’ committed did not warrant the death penalty,
then what would?” Browne’s killing is considered by many to be one of the most gruesome murders to have occurred here.
Death penalty – a deterrent Joseph referred to the peculiarities and uniqueness of the Caribbean situation which, in his view, should be understood and taken into account, and he thinks the CCJ would have that understanding. He pointed out that the three murders last weekend occurred, despite all the police patrols and stop and search exercises throughout the country. In fact, Joseph noted that one of the bodies was discovered by a special police unit which was patrolling throughout the night last Saturday. While he admits that police
Station Sergeant Trevor Bailey, head of the Major Crime Unit (MCU), longs for the day the Caribbean accepts the CCJ as its final appellate court. still have to do more, he said Continued on Page 3..