Akeem Alexis Chumney (left) and Craig Macarther Halliday (second left) leaving the Courthouse after the June 12 hearing in their cases. (File photo)
PHILIPSBURG–The strike of inmates in the Pointe Blanche prison led to the postponement of Friday’s procedural hearing of two men who are currently sitting out eighteen-year sentences for the failed attempt to shoot and kill two men who were sitting in a car outside L’Esperance Hotel in Cay Hill on November 18, 2018.
Following incidents of “vandalism and arson” on Friday, the prison director had called a total lockdown for security reasons and no one would be allowed to enter or leave the prison, the Solicitor General said. He added that the director was the leading authority where it pertains to prison safety and security and recommended postponing the hearing.
The suspects’ lawyers objected and called on the Court to bring the suspects to the hearing. “The prison director cannot decide just like that to keep the prison in lockdown and disallow the suspects’ right to be present at their hearing,” attorney Shaira Bommel said.
Confronted with the fact that the two defendants had been properly summoned and they could not attend their hearing, the Court decided to postpone the hearing until December 5.
On July 6, 2019, suspects Craig Macarther Halliday and Akeem Alexis Chumney were found guilty of two attempted murders and of possession of illegal firearms. Halliday was also convicted of possession of four false 500-euro bills that were found when he was arrested.
During their trials, both denied any involvement in the shooting.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the shooting was a failed attempt to take the life of a criminal identified as “J.E. Flanders” and that of the vehicle’s driver.
Following the Prosecutor’s Office, the judge in the Court of First Instance said there was sufficient evidence to hold both defendants as the shooters.
Video images of the shooting were shown to members of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force who, according to the police in St. Maarten, had stated that they recognised the two defendants, who are nationals of St. Kitts.
Investigations by Dutch Forensic Institute NFI revealed that the weapon found in Chumney’s possession had been used in the shooting. Halliday’s weapon was also investigated, but there were no indications that it also had been used.
Bommel had pleaded for her clients’ acquittal of the murder/manslaughter charges, as the evidence presented by the Prosecutor was “incorrect and inaccurate,” which in her eyes left too much room for doubt.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/92006-prison-lockdown-leads-to-delay-in-appeal-case
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