Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

A man who spent three years in prison awaiting the hearing of his appeal was freed yesterday after the Court of Appeal found that there was no basis for the jury to have convicted him of manslaughter.

Conrad Johnson, welder, of Old Harbour Bay, St. Catherine, was convicted in 2003 of manslaughter. The Crown led evidence at the trial that on September 24, 2002, he fatally stabbed Paul Simmons, of Old Harbour Bay, during a dispute over the allocation of work.

Prosecution witnesses, including the brother of the deceased, said that during the dispute, Simmons pulled a machete and was 'fake-chopping' at Johnson who pulled a knife and stabbed him. Evidence was given that Johnson was wounded on his hand during the incident.

Attorney-at-law Oswest Senior-Smith, who represented Johnson on appeal, argued that there was no basis for the manslaughter verdict. He said the judge should have upheld the no-case submission which was made at the end of the Crown's case. He submitted that the Crown did not disprove self-defence and the judge did not advise the jury of the possible verdicts they could return.

The Court of Appeal, comprising Mr. Justice Seymour Panton, Mr. Justice Howard Cooke and Mrs. Justice Hazel Harris, upheld the submissions and freed Johnson.