C. Communication Ho. 331/1988, G.J. v. Trinidad and Tobago (decision of S Hovember 1991. adopted at the forty-third session) Submitted by; G.J. (name deleted) Alleged victim: The author State party! Trinidad and Tobago Date of communication: 24 September 1988 (initial submission) The Human Rights Committee, established under article 28 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Eights, Meeting on 5 November 1991, Adopts the following: Decision on admissibility 1. The author of the communication (initial submission dated 24 September 1988 and subsequent correspondence) is G.J., a Trinidadian citizen currently awaiting execution at the State prison in Port~of-Spain, Trinidad. He claims to be the victim of a violation by Trinidad and Tobago of article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He is represented by counsel. Facts as submitted by the author 2.1 The author was charged on 14 July 1980 with the murder, on 11 July 1980, of a two-year-old child, P.J. At the conclusion of the trial, which took place between 18 May and 15 June 1982, the author was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. He appealed to the Court of Appeal on 15 grounds; his appeal was, however, dismissed on 20 December 1984. The Court of Appeal issued its written judgement on 24 December 1984. A subsequent petition for special leave to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was dismissed on 17 May 1990. 2.2 The case for the prosecution was based partly on circumstantial evidence and partly on alleged confessions made by the author himself. Thus, the evidence relied on during the trial was that, on the afternoon of the d&y before the murder, the child's father took his wife and the child to a golf course near their home in Port Fortin. On that occasion, the child's father alledgedly saw the author, whom he later identified at an identification parade. The author was next seen by one C.A., in the area of the J.'s house at about 7.30 a.m. on the following morning. C.A. purported to identify the author at an identification parade. On the same morning, the child was reported missing, and a handwritten ransom note was found at the gate of the J.'s, giving instructions for the delivery of $30,000 at a designated place. The child's parents immediately reported the facts to the police, which mounted an ambush to sieze the kidnapper. Allegedly, the author was arrested while collecting the ransom. The child's body was later found in a shallow -337-