Sentenced to 75 years for the murder of Mocha mechanic Terrence Lanferman, Kenkassie Lynch has appealed his conviction, arguing in part that trial judge Navindra Singh erred by admitting into evidence a purported caution statement.
Last Thursday, Lynch was handed the sentence following the completion of a trial, at the conclusion of which a jury found him guilty as charged for committing the offence.
In his notice of appeal filed with the Guyana Court of Appeal, Lynch is contending that the judge erred in law when he admitted a caution statement which he said the police claims he had given them.
Additionally, he is contending that the judge failed to adequately put his defence to the jury.
Lanferman, who was 23-years-old at the time of his death, was shot and killed on the night of June 1, 2015 at his Lot 37 Nelson Street, Mocha, East Bank Demerara home.
According to a caution statement tendered and admitted at trial, Lynch told police investigators that he had carried out the act for a man popularly known in the Mocha area as ‘Birdman,’ who had a grievance against Lanferman.
The defence had contended, however, that Lynch had never made that statement to police.
In imposing sentence, Justice Singh commenced at a base of 60 years, to which he added 10 years for premeditation and another five years for the use of a gun.
The judge, however, ordered that deductions be made by prison authorities for the time Lynch would have spent in prison awaiting trial.
In her testimony during the trial, mother of the deceased, Eunice Lanferman, had told the court that her son had an issue with ‘Birdman.’
The witness had also told the court that she was aware that ‘Birdman’ was at one point charged with her son’s murder.
