Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
THE UNITED Kingdom Privy Council has sent back the case of 34-year-old St. Andrew businessman Steven Grant for the Court of Appeal to decide whether he should face a new trial for the murder of 19-year-old Dunoon Technical High School student Kymani Bailey.
The case was remitted because the Privy Council said 'fairness' required the admission of the statement of a witness, Michael Kinglock.
The prosecution had served notices to adduce the evidence of Kinglock and Xavier Newton Bryant, but only Bryant's statement was admitted under Section 31 (D) of the Evidence (Amendment) Act.
Frank Phipps, Q.C., who represented Grant at the trial and at the Court of Appeal had challenged the constitutionality of the Evidence Amendment Act and the exercise of the trial judge's discretion to admit Bryant's statement without admitting that of Kinglock.
Grant lost his appeal and he took his case to the United Kingdom Privy Council, where he was represented by Lord Anthony Gifford, Q.C.
The Privy Council upheld legal arguments from Government lawyers Patrick Foster and Katherine Denbow that the act, which makes provision for the statements of deceased persons and witnesses who could not be found or had migrated to be admitted in evidence, was constitutional.
STATEMENT NEEDED
The Privy Council said the names of the two men did not appear on the back of the indictment, but the inclusion in notices to adduce made clear the Crown's intention to rely on their evidence. The Privy Council said fairness required the admission of Kinglock's statement.
Bailey was shot 13 times outside the Asylum Nightclub, New Kingston, about 4.30 a.m. on April 18, 1999. It was Grant's birthday and his brother had taken him to the club to celebrate his birthday.
Grant left the club saying he was going outside to urinate and sometime after he was shot. The medical evidence was that two of the wounds, which were not life-threatening, were to the front of the body while the other eleven wounds were to the back. Grant was convicted on February 28, 2003 and sentenced to life imprisonment. The judge recommended that he serve 20 years before becoming eligible for parole.
