By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterTHE COURT of Appeal has ordered that Barrington Munroe, 35, shopkeeper of Gordon Pen, Spanish Town, St. Catherine must face a second trial because of deficiencies in the judge's summation to the jury.
Munroe had been sentenced to hang last year, having been convicted on two counts of capital murder in the deaths of Linton Fraser and his wife Sandra, also of Gordon Pen.
Evidence was given at the trial in the St. Catherine Circuit Court that on June 17, 1997, a Molotov cocktail bomb was thrown into the Frasers' dwelling house.
The house caught fire and the Frasers suffered serious burns and died as a result. Munroe was subsequently arrested and charged with capital murder because the deaths occurred in furtherance of arson.
Attorney-at-law Oswest Senior-Smith who represented Munroe on appeal, submitted that there were deficiencies in the judge's summation to the jury. He submitted further that the police's questioning of Munroe was not done in an independent environment.
Mr. Senior-Smith said that Munore was illiterate and there was no Justice of the Peace present when he was questioned. He told the court that the only two policemen present during the question and answer exercise were involved in the case.
The court upheld the submissions and said it was ordering a new trial in the interest of justice. The court ordered that Munroe's trial should take place this term.
