Mavado’s son and co-accused freed of murder due to trial judge’s error

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SOURCE: JAMAICA GLEANER: Dante Brooks, son of dancehall artiste Mavado, who was sentenced to life in prison nearly four years ago for murder, was this morning freed along with his co-accused, Andre Hinds, after the Court of Appeal overturned their convictions.

The duo was freed by Justices Marva McDonald-Bishop, David Fraser and Kissock Laing, because of the trial judge’s error in the treatment of the identification evidence, which was unreliable, and credibility issues with the sole eyewitness.

“We are of the view that the failure of the learned trial judge to adequately warn himself of the dangers inherent in the identification evidence combined with the deficiencies in his treatment of the identification and matters going to the credibility of the prosecution’s sole eyewitness resulted in the applicants being deprived of the safeguards developed by law to prevent the ‘ghastly risk’ of conviction on unreliable evidence of identification,” they said in the published judgement.

The appellate judges also commended the prosecution for acknowledging the judge’s error and for not seeking a retrial.

Brooks, who was 18 years old at the time of his sentencing, was ordered by Justice Leighton Pusey to serve 22 years before parole for the murder of Lorenzo Thomas.

He was also sentenced to 15 years for arson and 20 years for illegal possession of a firearm. The sentences were to run concurrently.

Andre Hines, who was 26 years old, was also given a life sentence for the murder with a stipulation that he serve 17 years before parole.

He was sentenced to 15 years each for arson and illegal possession of a firearm.

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