R v Grant (Kevin)
| Jurisdiction | Jamaica |
| Judge | MARSH J.A. (Ag): |
| Judgment Date | 10 November 2006 |
| Neutral Citation | JM 2006 CA 66 |
| Judgment citation (vLex) | [2006] 11 JJC 1003 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Jamaica) |
| Date | 10 November 2006 |
CRIMINAL LAW - Manslaughter
The appellant Kevin Grant was convicted in the Home Circuit Court on an indictment for murder of the offence of manslaughter, on the 16 th day of July, 2004. He was sentenced to a term of nine (9) years imprisonment.
His application for leave to appeal against his conviction and sentence, was considered by the single judge and he was granted leave to appeal against conviction and sentence.
After hearing the submissions of counsel, the appeal was dismissed, conviction and sentence were affirmed and we ordered that his sentence should commence as from the 28 th day of October, 2004.
At the time of delivering our judgment we promised to put our reasons in writing. This we now do.
The Prosecution's Case
On the 21 st day of May, 2003, the appellant had an altercation with one Keisha Watkis, mother of his two children at the upper floor of an apartment at 37 Beckford Street, Kingston. They went downstairs to an asphalted yard where the altercation continued.
Janet Lawrence, mother of Keisha Watkis, intervened. Persons around them were telling them to "done the argument" but the altercation continued. Keisha Watkis threw a cup which hit the appellant and "burst" his head. She ran through the gate, while appellant and Janet Lawrence continued arguing at the gate.
Appellant, facing the deceased Janet Lawrence, took a knife from his pocket and Janet Lawrence got "stabbed to her chin and chest". All that she had in her hand at the time she received the stab was a handbag. She received an incised wound to the upper chest wall, one to her right chin and an incised wound to an area above the sternum. Death was due to a stab wound to the right side of her chest with injury to a major blood vessel leading to the heart.
Keisha Watkis, called to testify as a witness for the prosecution, departed from what she had previously stated. A successful application was made by the Crown for her to be treated as a hostile witness.
The Appellant's Case
The appellant testified that Keisha Watkis, the mother of his two children was using "dirty words" to him. She took up two bottles, broke one and hit him on his right shoulder. He chased her in the yard where there were some thirty (30) persons.
Janet Lawrence, Keisha's mother became involved in the argument and told him to stop beating her daughter or she would "make man kill him". He had turned and was walking away when he was hit by another bottle to his back. He ran towards Keisha Watkis and her mother, grabbed Watkis and hit her on her mouth which bled. He took his things from Keisha Watkis' room and placed them in his mother's room. He was going through the gate when he saw Janet Lawrence (also called Christine) at the gate with a group of five or six guys who attacked him with knives and other weapons such as a machete. She attacked him with a knife. He grabbed her hand and stabbed at her. His defence was self-defence.
The Grounds of Appeal
Learned Counsel for the appellant, Mrs. Althea McBean abandoned the grounds of appeal filed and sought leave to argue five supplemental grounds and further amend these grounds.
The first ground was couched in the following terms, namely that the verdict arrived at was unreasonable having regard to the evidence. It was submitted that the two eyewitnesses for the Crown were thoroughly discredited when the several material discrepancies were taken into consideration. Since Keisha Watkis, the first Crown witness had been treated as hostile, then the learned trial judge had placed more weight on her evidence than it deserved. He had understated the manner in which the evidence should be treated. He left it open to the jury...
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