By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterCONVICTED MURDERER, 40-year-old Paul Gooden, yesterday filed several grounds of appeal against his conviction and sentence for the murder of
his 36-year-old wife Ingrid Andrade-Gooden.
The jury found him guilty two weeks ago of strangling his wife at their home at Hartford Towers Apartments, 7 Sullivan Avenue, St. Andrew, between November 6 and 7 last year. Justice Marva McIntosh sentenced him to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should serve 35 years before he could be eligible for parole.
Gooden, who was a distribution consultant at Yummy Bakery, St. Andrew at the time of the incident, is contending that his trial was unfair.
FAIR TRIAL
He claims that the court failed to recognise that he could never get a fair trial based on the known fact that the present Director of Public Prosecutions, Kent Pantry, Q.C., who prosecuted his case, was a close friend of his wife's father, retired director of public prosecutions, Glen Andrade, Q.C.
Gooden further claims that the case was heavily prejudiced against him based on the media coverage leading up to the trial and its duration. He said the media coverage strongly influenced public sentiments against him and was reflected in the jury's verdict.
IMPROPER PROCEDURES
The Court of Appeal is being asked to find that there were improper procedures because the police treated him as a suspect from "day one, which resulted in their inaction, preventing them from carrying out more detailed investigation to find the real perpetrator or
perpetrators."
He is contending that the alleged crime scene where blood was found was altered from November 9 to 13, 2003, and no comment or account could be given as to why that was done.
Gooden will be asking the court to find that there was a miscarriage of justice at his trial. He is contending that the evidence upon which the judge and jury relied for the purpose of convicting him, lacked facts and credibility, thus rendering the verdict unfair in the circumstances.
