THE COURT of Appeal threw out the appeal of a man on Tuesday who sought to have his guilty plea to manslaughter set aside after he confessed to setting ablaze a woman and her two-year-old daughter.
Andrew Darby, a 29-year-old welder, otherwise called 'Spooney', who had pleaded in March 2002 in the Home Circuit Court to two counts of manslaughter was seeking to have his case tried.
The Court, in dismissing his appeal, said Darby was not coerced or deceived to enter the guilty plea.
The facts of the case were that on March 14, 1996 he threw gasoline on Annmarie Barrett, 30, and her daughter Nikita Matthews. He then used a cigarette lighter to set them ablaze at their home at 2 St. Raphael Road, Kingston 2. Darby had lived at the same premises but in a separate apartment.
GUILTY PLEA
After two witnesses testified at his murder trial in March 2002, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, the lesser offence.
Justice Algernon Smith sentenced him to 30 years imprisonment on each count. The sentences are to run concurrently.
Darby appealed on grounds that the prosecution and the police did not disclose several documents to the defence. He complained that he was not sufficiently advised by his lawyer when he entered the guilty plea, and that the sentence was manifestly excessive.
The Court of Appeal, comprising Ian Forte, president, Justice Seymour Panton and Justice Howard Cooke (acting), did not call on Crown Counsel Donald Bryan to respond to the legal arguments put forward by Frank Phipps, QC.
It was the court's finding that the documents which Darby complained of did not contain anything in favour of the defence.
The court said it would not disturb the sentence because to set someone on fire was a very painful death.
The judges pointed out that if Darby was convicted of murder based on the facts outlined, it would have been very difficult to disturb the convictions on appeal.
