Mavado's son Dantay Brooks and co-accused freed due to trial judge's error

The son of dancehall veteran, Dantay Brooks, and his co-accused Andre Hinds, who were sentenced to life imprisonment four years ago were able to walk free today by the Court of Appeal due to a trial jude's error.

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.

The two were arrested and charged in connection with the home-invasion killing of Thomas in the St Andrew community of Cassava Piece on June 5, 2018.

Prosecutors led evidence that Brooks and Hinds were among five men who entered the house and shot Thomas before pushing his father into another room.

They were accused of attempting to sever Thomas' head before aborting that plan because the machete was too dull.

They then allegedly poured gasoline on the house and the body before setting both on fire.

Prosecutors relied on the eyewitness testimony of Thomas' father, who indicated that he knew his son's killers from the community.

Attorney-at-law Hugh Wildman represented Brooks while attorneys-at-law Kemar Robinson and Oswest Senior Smith represented Hinds.

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