Peter King's murderer seeks help to pursue appeal
Published:Wednesday | February 9, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
THE MAN who was convicted in 2009 of manslaughter arising from the fatal stabbing and chopping of 64-year-old Ambassador Peter King is pursuing his appeal against his conviction and sentence.
Sheldon Pusey, 25, waiter and carpenter of Hopewell district near Gordon Town, St Andrew, was convicted by a Home Circuit Court jury on March 16, 2009.
When Pusey's appeal came up for hearing on Monday, the court was told that his appeal could not proceed because he was seeking the services of a senior lawyer to assist with the appeal.
The case was taken off the court list for another date to be set.
King was fatally stabbed at his home at Waterloo Road, St Andrew, between March 19 and 20, 2006. The body had 30 stab wounds.
Evidence was given at the trial that King led a homosexual lifestyle, but the prosecutors asked the jury not to have any sympathy or bias in the case. Pusey had admitted in a question-and-answer interview, conducted by Superintendent McArthur Sutherland, that he killed King because he was trying to "rape" him.
Pusey is contending in the grounds of appeal which were filed by attorney-at-law Berriston Bryan (now deceased) that none of the 460 videotapes showing King's homosexual activities had been tendered in court.
Potential trauma
He is contending that the defence had formally requested that "the jury be shown at least two or three of the videos that were recorded by the said Peter King in his homosexual activities, from the more than 460 videos that were in the possession of the prosecution or the police, which could have explained the gravity and graphic extent of the danger and traumatic condition that the appellant (Pusey) would have been subjected to in such an encounter," but the request was denied.
Pusey is also appealing against his conviction on the grounds that two knives taken from the home of the deceased had not been tendered in evidence.
After Pusey was convicted, Justice Marva McIntosh (now retired) sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment.
Bryan, 72, was badly beaten and fatally stabbed at his home in July 2009.