Categorized | National News

Birbal To Argue More Grounds

Convicted child molester, Andre Birbal will today argue more grounds for his appeal.

On Tuesday, Court of Appeal President, Anita Allen told Birbal they had recalled his matter, giving him an opportunity to address them on the other grounds of appeal.

However, Birbal was not prepared to do so at the time, as he did not have his documents with him.

The ex-art teacher was found guilty last year of having unnatural sexual intercourse with two of his former students at the Eight Mile Rock High School in Grand Bahama.

The Trinidadian is appealing sentence and conviction.

Last Thursday, Birbal only argued one of his grounds.

He began by telling the appellate panel that the judge in the Supreme Court wrongly directed the jury on the issue of corroboration.

In fact, Birbal said the judge should have been more precise in directing the jury on which evidence given during the trial amounted to corroboration.

Birbal said the judge gave the jury the impression that the evidence of one of the boys could be used to support that of the other.

He said this should not have happened considering that the incidents between the boys happened separately, at different times and different locations.

At the time, President Allen asked the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Vinette Graham–Allen whether the judge was wrong when he directed the jury on the issue of corroboration.

She agreed, but questioned whether the judge’s error was fatal to the case.

The DPP said if the panel felt the judge’s error was indeed fatal, she would suggest the court allow the appeal and order a retrial.

The matter continues today at 10:00 a.m.

Written by Jones Bahamas

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