Smith v. The Queen (Bermuda)

Justis Raham Smith Appellant

v.

The Queen Respondent

FROM

THE COURT OF APPEAL OF BERMUDA

JUDGMENT OF THE LORDS OF THE JUDICIAL

COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL,

Delivered the 28th February 2000

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Present at the hearing:-

Lord Steyn

[Delivered by Lord Steyn]

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1. The principal issue on this appeal is whether under section 17(2) of the Court of Appeal Act 1964 of Bermuda the Attorney-General had a right of appeal against a trial judge’s decision to direct an acquittal on the ground that the defendant had no case to answer. It turns on the question whether within the meaning of section 17(2) there was a ground of appeal which involved "a question of law alone".

 

The crime and the charges

2. At about 3.30 a.m. on 3rd July 1996 Rebecca Middleton, a seventeen year old Canadian visitor, was found lying on a public road at Ferry Reach. She had been stabbed several times and had sustained other severe injuries. She died shortly afterwards.

 

3. The appellant and Kirk Orlando Mundy were arrested. On 13th July the appellant was charged with premeditated murder and Mundy was charged with being an accessory after the fact. On 16th October 1996 Mundy pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment. On 21st October 1996 the appellant was committed for trial in the Supreme Court.

 

4. On 9th January 1998, before the trial of the appellant, there was a new development. A charge of murdering the deceased was made against Mundy and the appellant jointly. The reason for the joint charge was forensic evidence which showed that the murder had been carried out by more than one person, and that more than one person had carried the victim from the spot where the fatal wounds were inflicted to the middle of the road. Relying on the fact that he had pleaded guilty and was sentenced as an accessory after the fact Mundy applied for an order quashing the new charge. On 6th February 1998 a judge dismissed the application. On 26th March 1998 the Court of Appeal allowed an appeal and granted an order prohibiting the Attorney-General from proceeding with the charge of murder against Mundy. The Court of Appeal took the view that a conviction of murder would be inconsistent with a conviction as an accessory after the fact. On 6th July 1998 the Privy Council dismissed the Crown’s petition for leave to appeal.

 

5. That left the charge of murder against the appellant in respect of which he had been committed on 21st October 1996. The trial against the appellant alone began on the 23rd November 1998. The Crown case was that two persons were involved in the murder. Mundy’s semen had been found in the victim. The circumstantial evidence that Mundy was involved in the murder was strong. The Crown’s case…