Advancing what he said were several errors made by the judge who conducted his trial, 70-year-old convict Kubert George has appealed his conviction and 60-year sentence for the killing of his former partner.
On February 21st, 2013, a jury unanimously found George guilty of the killing of Patricia Rose, who succumbed in hospital months after she was attacked on November 1st, 2008.
Justice Navindra Singh, who conducted the trial, thereafter sentenced George to 60 years behind bars, while noting, among other things, that he found the convict’s actions to be willful, deliberate, premeditated and without regard for human life.
In his notice of appeal, however, George contends that the judge erred in law in failing to withdraw the case from the jury, while arguing that there was no “nexus between the alleged injury and cause of death.”
According to him, by sending the case to the jury the judge caused the jury to speculate.
Arguing that the prosecution failed in establishing that it was he who inflicted the fatal wounds on Rose, George is contending that the judge should have upheld a no-case submission made on his behalf and erred in not doing so.
George is of the view that the judge failed in adequately directing the jury on issues of causation and nexus.
George, who was 66-years-old when he was convicted, has also argued that the sentence imposed was severe and unduly harsh, given his age.
The matter will be called on March 1st before Justices of Appeal Rishi Persaud, Arif Bulkan and Rafiq Khan.
Though Rose was stabbed in 2008, she succumbed to her injuries on May 8th, 2009.
The prosecution’s case was based on George’s statement to the police in which he confessed to stabbing Rose, which was admitted as evidence at the trial.
He had told police that he went to Rose’s work place and called for her. He said she answered and told him she “ain’t able get up, I must jump de gate and I jump de gate with my haversack containing a kitchen knife, food and other things.”
George, according to the statement, further related that after he scaled the fence, he started to gaff with the woman, who asked him for some money. He said he told her that the money he had was intended to buy rations and kerosene.
Police said he claimed Rose scrambled his clothes and “I pull out de knife out a me bag and I juk she up plenty times about she body and face. I walk out after juking she up with the knife, which is about six inches.”
However, in a sworn statement to the court, he stated that he did not confess to the crime and accused the police of fabricating the confession.
George had told the court that he recalled going to Rose’s workplace and jumping the gate with a knife in his hand. He had also said he and Rose then began talking and while he was about to leave, she held him back and asked him for some money.
It was George’s story that a scuffle then ensued for about eight minutes between him and the woman after which she let go of him and he jumped back over the fence and left. However, about half an hour later, he said he got a call from Rose’s daughter, Phonda, who told him, “You juk up ma mother.”
Questioned about his confession to the police, George said that the police had made additions to the statement.
According to him, he only became aware of the additions to the statement at the Magistrate’s Court. “When I reach at the small court, then I know what tek place. When ah object to what she write in de statement, [Magistrate] Hazel Hamilton tell me you done sign hey,” he had told the court.
