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Gilbert v.R. (Grenada )

Gilbert v.R. (Grenada )

Case [2006] UKPC 15 27 March 2006

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Gilbert v.R. (Grenada ) [2006] UKPC 15 (27 March 2006)

Privy Council Appeal No 25 of 2005

Edmund Gilbert

Appellant

v.

The Queen

Respondent

FROM

THE COURT OF APPEAL OF

GRENADA

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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 Hoffmann

Lord Woolf

Lord Scott of Foscote

Lord Rodger of Earlsferry

Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood

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[Delivered by Lord Woolf]

The appellant was no doubt a respected and well-known figure in Grenada. He had been a Senior Tax Collector and a Bishop of one of the Island's Baptist churches. He was tried for the murder of a 15 year old girl called Robby Ann Jeremiah. He was convicted on 12 December 2001 before Sylvester J and a jury on the 17 December 2001 imposed the death penalty. He appealed against his conviction to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal (Grenada) and on the 23 November 2002 that court (Byron CJ, Redhead and Georges JJA) dismissed his appeal against conviction and sentence. The present appeal is brought with special leave which was granted by the Board on the 27 July 2004.

On the appeal he was represented by Miss Montgomery QC and Mr Julian Knowles. At the outset of her submissions Miss Montgomery made it clear that the central point of the appeal was whether the judge was under a duty to give a direction as to the appellant's good character and if he was under such a duty as to the effect of his failure to give such a direction. The appellant also complains about:

(i) the judge's failure to warn the jury that they should ignore anything that they might have heard or read about the case in the media,

(ii) the judge being wrong to allow a witness, called Aleccia Victor who was aged 17, to give evidence that she had had a sexual relationship with the appellant and seen him slap the deceased,

(iii) the judge's directions about telephone calls which were made early on the morning of the day when the deceased's body was found,

(iv) misdirecting the jury on how it should approach the appellant's alibi,

(v) the judge's failure to direct the jury correctly as to the possible partiality of a juror.

In addition, the appellant submits that the sentence of death was unlawfully imposed because he was sentenced to death by the jury and not by the judge. That this should not have happened is accepted by Mr James Guthrie QC who appeared on behalf of the respondent.

The Facts

The body of the victim was found at a place in Grenada called "True Blue" at about 7.00am on the…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading Gilbert v.R. (Grenada )

Details

Case: [2006] UKPC 15
Decision Date