By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterTHE COURT of Appeal has ruled that in the interest of justice Michael Pringle, labourer, of Mount Ararat, St. Ann, is to face a second trial for a murder which was committed seven years ago.
In January this year, the United Kingdom Privy Council quashed Pringle's conviction and set aside his death sentence. The Privy Council sent back the case for the Court of Appeal to decide whether he should face a retrial.
Pringle was convicted on October 30, 1998 for the murder of his neighbour, Kevan Davidson, a singer, of Mount Ararat. He was sentenced to hang.
Davidson's body with the throat cut was found on the morning of June 10, 1996 at the side of a gully which was about five chains from her house.
The Crown had relied on DNA results and a confession which Pringle allegedly made to a fellow cellmate at the Runaway Bay Police Station that he raped and killed Davidson.
Attorney-at-law Ravil Golding who represented Pringle urged the Court of Appeal Monday to free Pringle based on the Privy Council's criticism of the DNA tests by Dr. Yvonne Cruickshank. He submitted that Pringle should not be allowed to go through the ordeal of a second trial after being in prison for seven years.
Carrington Mahoney, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions told the Court of Appeal comprising the Hon. Ian Forte, President, Mr. Justice Clarence Walker and Mr. Justice Seymour Panton that the witnesses were available for a second trial.
The court ruled that Pringle should be tried during the next session of the St. Ann Circuit Court. The court pointed out that even without the DNA tests, there was the alleged confession and it was for the jury to determine whether that evidence was credible.
