PC (Trinidad and Tobago) The defendants had been accused of murder and rape. They had been tried three times, and the third trial collapsed. They sought an order that they should not be tried again. They said that the appeal court had effectively denied them an opportunity to argue that they should not be retried. The Board had remitted the case in 2001 because of a misdirection on the felony murder rule. Persad’s appeal had been allowed and a conviction for manslaughter substituted, against which he now appealed.
Held: In Jairam’s case there had again been a misdirection. The Board had to consider whether on a proper direction a reasonable jury would still have convicted. That test was met. For Persad, the court had not elaborated on how it came to substitute the conviction for manslaughter, relying on a general power in them to substitute a lesser offence. However because of the felony murder misdirection, the jury had never considered whether he could have foreseen that his accomplice would shoot the victim. Since that had not been canvassed, the Court of Appeal could have no proper basis to enter the verdict of guilty of manslaughter. Persad’s appeal succeeded.
Judges:
Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Slynn of Hadley, Lord Hutton, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Sir Andrew Leggatt
Citations:
[2005] UKPC 21
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Crime
Updated: 19 April 2022; Ref: scu.224875