Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
A judge's error has resulted in the Court of Appeal quashing the murder conviction of 37-year-old Kevin Tyndale, also called 'Richie Pooh'.
Tyndale was reportedly a member of the Joel Andem-led Gideon Warriors gang.
An identification parade was not held for Tyndale. He was pointed out by the sole eyewitness during his trial in the Home Circuit Court.
The Court of Appeal, in freeing Tyndale yesterday, ruled that the trial judge erred in failing to give appropriate directions in respect of the dock identification.
Justice Algernon Smith, Justice Howard Cooke and (acting) Justice Mahadev Dukharan, said Tyndale did not get a fair trial because of the judge's error.
Sentence set aside
Tyndale's sentence of life imprisonment and a recommendation to serve 30 years before parole were also set aside.
A retrial was not ordered because the court said in the judgment written by Justice Cooke, on the state of the evidence adduced by the prosecution, it would not be in the interest of justice to order a retrial. Tyndale, who was represented on appeal by attorney-at-law Patrick Atkinson, had appealed on the grounds that the identification evidence was weak.
Tyndale and 39-year-old Brenton Fletcher, a construction worker, of Willowdene, St Catherine, were convicted on January 30, 2006, for the murder of Jervis Lobban, a mechanic of Mud Town, St Andrew.
Lobban was shot dead on July 14, 2003, in Mud Town while he was working on a motor car.
Fletcher also appealed against his conviction, but the court dismissed it on the basis that there was no merit in his appeal.
Tyndale is now serving prison sentences for other gun crimes.
Pleaded guilty
Tyndale was convicted in September 2005 for shooting and wounding a civilian during a robbery in Papine, St Andrew, and was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment.
A year later, Tyndale pleaded guilty to shooting and wounding a policeman in the leg during a 2004 incident in Papine, St Andrew.
He was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. The sentences are running concurrently.
