Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
The
three persons who were convicted in April 2003 of the murder of prominent attorney-at-law
Shirley Playfair have lost their appeals, but were successful in having their
prison terms significantly reduced.
Mrs. Playfair was in her office at Seymour Avenue, St. Andrew, on April 13, 2000 when men entered the office and slashed her throat.
Annette Livingston, 48, who was Mrs. Playfair's secretary; Ramone Drysdale, 27, labourer, of a Maxfield Avenue address in St. Andrew; and Ashley Ricketts, 54, taxi driver, of a Kingston address, were convicted on April 10, 2003 of the murder and each sentenced to life imprisonment.
Ricketts had his murder conviction set aside, but the court substituted a manslaughter conviction and sentenced him to 20 years' imprisonment.
Justice Kay Beckford had recommended that Livingston should serve 60 years before she was eligible for parole, Drysdale should serve 55 years before parole and Ricketts should serve 45 years before parole.
35
years each
The Court of Appeal, comprising president of the Court of Appeal Paul Harrison, Justice Karl Harrison and Justice Zaila McCalla, ordered yesterday that Livingston and Drysdale should each serve 35 years before they were eligible for parole.
Drysdale, who was held by soldiers and police on Maxfield Avenue, Kingston 11, shortly after the murder, with a knife bearing bloodstains which matched the DNA profile of Mrs. Playfair, had only appealed against his sentence. He was represented by attorney-at-law C.J. Mitchell.
Ricketts had transported the men in his taxi to and from the murder scene. Livingston, who was represented by Frank Phipps, Q.C., and attorney-at-law Kathryn Phipps, and Ricketts, who was represented by attorney-at-law Delroy Chuck, filed several grounds of appeal. The lawyers argued that Livingston and Ricketts were never engaged in any plot to murder Mrs. Playfair. They also referred to errors in the judge's summation to the jury.
The court found that Justice Beckford did not err in her directions to the jury and properly instructed the jury on the right to draw inferences.
