Ebanks v. R. (The Cayman Islands)

Ebanks v. R. (The Cayman Islands) [2006] UKPC 16 (27 March 2006)

Privy Council Appeal No 11 of 2005

Kurt Fabian Ebanks

Appellant

v.

The Queen

Respondent

FROM

THE COURT OF APPEAL OF

THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

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JUDGMENT OF THE LORDS OF THE JUDICIAL

COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL

Delivered the 27th March 2006

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Present at the hearing:-

Lord Rodger of Earlsferry

Lord Steyn

Lord Carswell

Lord Mance

Sir Swinton Thomas

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[Majority judgment delivered by Lord Rodger of Earlsferry]

On the morning of 18 January 2000 the body of Curtis Seymour was found in a refuse disposal area near the Flowers Apartment complex off Walkers Road in George Town. He had been stabbed to death. In due course the appellant, Kurt Fabian Ebanks, and his co-defendant, Bryan Roland Powell, were tried for his murder before Henderson J sitting without a jury in the Grand Court. Both defendants were convicted on 26 January 2001 and were sentenced to life imprisonment. Both appealed to the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal and on 12 April 2002 the court (Zacca P, Rowe and Taylor JJA) dismissed the appeals in a judgment delivered by Rowe JA. On 27 July 2004 the Board granted the appellant special leave to appeal as a poor person.

At the hearing before the Board counsel for the appellant, Mr Froomkin QC, argued a single ground of appeal, that the appellant had been denied a fair trial by reason of the conduct of counsel who represented him at the trial, his barrister, Mr Philip St John Stevens, and his attorneys Mr David Thomas McGrath, Mr Gregory Link and Mr Neville W Levy. In fact, as their Lordships go on to explain, there were really two interrelated aspects to the ground of appeal.

At the trial the only evidence against the appellant came from a statement which he was alleged to have made to WPC Angela Campbell and DC Wayne Powell on 17 February 2000. In order to appreciate the significance of that statement it is necessary to look briefly at how the issues presented themselves at the trial. The Crown proceeded on the basis that on the night in question both the defendants had participated in a jointly planned robbery of Curtis Seymour and that both had participated in stabbing him to death in his taxi in the early hours of 18 January.

At the trial Powell admitted that he had stabbed Seymour, but in evidence claimed that, at the time when the stabbing occurred, he had been alone in the taxi with Seymour. According to Powell, they drove to the Flowers Apartments ostensibly to get some drugs. When they got there, Seymour asked him for money which Powell owed him…

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