2.2 The author was arrested on 29 August 1981 at about 6 p,m,, together with
Winston Phillips. He had been seen driving Mr. McDonald's car by a friend of
the latter; the car had been reported stolen on the same day. Both the author
and Mr. Phillips were brought to the Waterford police station, where they were
searched and found to be in possession of pieces of jewellery that the wife of
the deceased later identified as belonging to her husband. The author submits
that when they were arrested, the police could not possibly have known about
the murder, since the deceased's body was recovered only in the afternoon of
the next day, in a canefield close to where he had dropped off Messrs. Cole
and Phillips.
2.3 No identification parade was held after the arrest of the accused on
29 August 1981, allegedly because a mob had sought to attack them at the
police station when it became known that the deceased's jewellery had been
found on them. The authors were moved to the Spanish Town police station
thereafter, and Mr. Phillips was admitted to the hospital. No identification
parade -was conducted in Spanish Town, either, as the police officers
conducting the investigation felt that because of the events at the Waterford
police station, a parade would be unnecessary or even suspect.
2.4 A post-mortem was performed on 1 September 1981 at about 1 p.m. by
Dr. Lawrence Richards. According to his evidence during the trial, which
remained unchallenged, death had occurred an estimated 47 hours before, at
around 2 p.m. on 30 August 1981, as a result of gunshot injuries inflicted no
more than 10 to 20 minutes before death. Thus, it is submitted that death
occurred only shortly before the body was recovered, and when the author had
already been in custody for about 20 hours.
2.5 On 3 September 1981, Mr. Cole was taken to the Spanish Town police
station, where the author was then in custody. The author was brought out of
a cell and identified by Mr. Cole as the man who had held the gun and
threatened the driver of the yellow Cortina. He was not asked to identify
Mr. Phillips before the trial and indicated that he would have been unable to
identify him; during the trial, he could not identify Mr. Phillips.
2.6 During the trial, the author made an unsworn statement from the dock. He
asserted that he had borrowed the deceased's car from a friend, to give his
girlfriend a ride to Spanish Town. He denied having obtained a lift in this
car on 28 August 1981, and affirmed that he was unaware that it had been
stolen. He further claimed that he had been working at the garage where he
was employed as a battery repairman until about midnight on the day of the
crime. Finally, he denied having been in possession of any of the deceased's
jewellery.
2.7 The author was tried with Winston Phillips. At the conclusion of the
trial, the jury failed to return a unanimous verdict in respect of
Mr. Phillips, who was released on bail and ordered to be retried. The author
was found guilty as charged, convicted and sentenced to death. He appealed to
the Court of Appeal of Jamaica which, on 11 July 1986, dismissed his appeal.
On 24 September 1986 the court issued a written judgement. On 8 October 1987,
the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council dismissed the author's petition
for special leave to appeal.
2.8
On 13 February 1984, the author submitted a complaint to the
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