Two men who were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving a minimum of 32 years imprisonment, have filed an appeal against their sentence and conviction. The men, Alvin Kissoon and Calvin King were convicted in November, 2019 of the January 2013 murder of John Friday who was killed during a robbery at the Lethem Post Office.
In court documents filed at the Court of Appeal, Kissoon and King have proffered five grounds of appeal. The convicts’ lawyers are arguing that during the summing up of the evidence to the jury trial judge, Sandil Kissoon, posited several rhetorical questions to the jury which had the effect of leading the jury to conclude that their clients were guilty.
The lawyers are arguing, too, that the summing up of the evidence by the judge was not fair and balanced and resulted in the judge usurping the functions of the jury as a result of the manner in which he expressed opinions on the evidence. Further, lawyers for the men are contending that the trial judge did not adequately address the issues to be considered by the jury from the confession statement in his summation of the evidence.
According to the lawyers, “The learned trial judge misled the jury as to the elements and the law with regards to joint enterprise and acting in concert in an indictment alleging a felony/murder and the participation of the appellants [King and Kissoon] as a secondary party.” The Court of Appeal is yet to set a date for hearing this case.
State Prosecutors Abigail Gibbs and Mandel Moore said that Kissoon and King left Georgetown for Lethem where they carried out a robbery on the Lethem Post Office which is housed in the same building as the Regional Democratic Council. Based on previous reports, the men entered the post office and tied up its two defenseless security guards after beating them.
They then broke into safes using a cutting torch. Based on reports, police later discovered the body of Friday, formerly of Culvert City, Lethem, while the other watchman was severely injured. Friday was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Following the robbery, all police divisions were notified, and later that day, police ranks at the Mabura checkpoint stopped and searched a motor car during which over $4M was found hidden under the rear seat.
They also found other articles linked to the crime.
