H, Communication Mo. 276/1988, Trevor Ellis v. Jamaica (views adopted on 28 July 1992, at the forty-fifth session) Submitted by: Trevor Ellis (represented by counsel) Alleged victim: The author State party: Jamaica Date of communication: 1 March 1988 Date of decision on admiasibility: 18 July 1989 The Human Rights Committee, established under article 28 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Meeting on 28 July 1992, Having concluded its consideration of communication No. 276/1988, submitted to the Human Rights Committee on behalf of Trevor Ellis under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Bights, Having taken into account all written information made available to it by the author of the communication, his counsel and by the State party, Adopts its views under article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol. Facts as submitted by the author 1. The author of the communication is Trevor Ellis, a Jamaican citizen born in 1958, at present awaiting execution at St. Catherine District Prison, Jamaica. He claims to be a victim of a violation by Jamaica of articles 6, 7 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 2.1 The author states that he was sentenced to death on 3 October 1980 after being convicted of having murdered a van driver (a newspaper distributor) on 22 December 1978. He alleges that he was convicted solely on the testimony of a single eyewitness, a female passenger in the van, who pointed him out at an identification parade held some six weeks after the crime. The witness identified the author as one of three men who, on the night of the murder, had been given a lift by the van driver, then shot him and subsequently raped her. The author was the only person arrested or prosecuted for the crime. Although there was no evidence that he had shot the victim or that he had been armed, he was convicted he states, on the basis of the principle of "common design". The author always maintained his innocence of the crime and, at the trial, two alibi witnesses testified that he -w&s at home on the night of the murder* 2.2 The author's appeal was dismissed by the Jamaican Court of Appeal on 17 December 1982. A subsequent petition for special leave to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was dismissed -without a hearing on 11 July 1985. Early in January 1988, a warrant for the execution of the author, on 14 January 1988, was issued, but this was stayed for reasons unknown. A further warrant for his execution on 8 March 1988 was served late in February 1988. a/ -257-