By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterTHE FAILURE of the police to hand over the security videotape of a robbery scene to the prosecution, or the defence, yesterday resulted in the Court of Appeal freeing two men who were convicted of the murder of a policeman shot and killed in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, seven years ago.
In freeing the men, the Court of Appeal called on the police to pursue their investigations, so that the real perpetrators can be held and properly tried. The pictures of some of the alleged robbers were seen on the videotape.
Freed were Mark Sangster, 32, a former prison warder, of Gregory Park, St. Catherine, and Randall Dixon, 36, a craft vendor, of Waterford, St. Catherine, who were convicted of the murder of Corporal Phillip Gordon on September 18, 1996.
Corporal Gordon was killed after he and other policemen went to investigate a hold-up at the Western Union Office in Spanish Town.
There was a security camera in the building and the videotape of the hold up was not presented at the trial or at the appeal hearing. The videotape was only presented before the United Kingdom Privy Council last year. After viewing the videotape, the Privy Council held that the men's pictures were not seen on it. The Privy Council found that there was a miscarriage of justice at the men's trial, because the videotape from the security camera in the building was not produced at the trial.
The Privy Council quashed the convictions, set aside the sentences and sent back the case for the Court of Appeal to decide whether in the interest of justice there should be a re-trial. It was the Privy Council's finding that had the videotape been presented at the trial, it might reasonably have affected the decision of the jury to convict.
When the matter came before the Court of Appeal yesterday, Dennis Daly, Q.C., and attorney-at-law, Nancy Anderson, who represented the men, argued that based on the history of the case and the Privy Council's finding, the men should be freed.
Bryan Sykes, Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, and Simone Wolfe, Crown Counsel, urged the court to order a re-trial.
The Court of Appeal, comprising the Hon. Ian Forte, President of the Court of Appeal, Mr. Justice Henderson Downer and Mr. Justice Seymour Panton, freed the men. The court said that the failure of the police to produce the videotape to the prosecution, or the defence, was a material irregularity which could not be corrected by a re-trial.
Sangster was convicted in the Home Circuit Court in July 1998 of non-capital murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment but the judge recommended that he should not be considered eligible for parole before he served a period of imprisonment of 30 years. Dixon was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death.
Policemen testified at the trial that they were alerted to a robbery which was taking place at the office of Western Union in Spanish Town on September 18, 1996. They went to the scene at about 11:30 a.m. and they first saw Sangster coming from the building. Sangster was armed with a firearm resembling a Uzi sub-machine gun and one of the policemen said he fired at Sangster who returned the fire, injuring him in the leg.
The police said they saw Dixon, who was armed with a 9 mm pistol, firing at Corporal Gordon who fired back at Dixon. Corporal Gordon fell and it was later discovered that he had been fatally shot. The witnesses said they had good view of the men and later identified them at identification parades.
The men, in their defence, said they knew nothing about the policeman's murder.
