A JUDGE'S misdirection to the jury has resulted in the Court of Appeal ordering a retrial for Briston Scarlett, 37, who was sentenced to hang for the murder of a 21-year-old woman, who perished in a fire on September 30, 1997.
Scarlett, a shoemaker, of Falmouth, Trelawny, was convicted on October 14, 1999, for the murder of Shauna Morgan, 21, but he appealed against conviction and sentence. The Crown led evidence at the trial that Morgan died from severe burns when a room in which she was sleeping was set on fire. Scarlett was alleged to have set fire to the house.
Lord Anthony Gifford, Q.C., and attorney-at-law Hugh Thompson submitted yesterday that the judge misdirected the jury on the definition of intent in the crime of murder. They pointed out that Mr. Justice Cooke had directed the jury that if the accused man set the fire and knew that it was "highly probable" that an occupant of the room would suffer death or really serious bodily harm, they could infer that he was guilty of murder.
The Court of Appeal, comprising Mr. Justice Donald Bingham, Mr. Justice Clarence Walker and Mr. Ransford Langrin, in allowing the appeal said it was a material misdirection, therefore the conviction could not stand.
The court will give its reasons in writing at a later date.
Paula Llewellyn, Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions and Suzette Rogers, Crown Counsel, represented the Crown.
