The Tribune

THE Court of Appeal has ordered the retrial of a man who was convicted of murder and sentenced to over 60 years in prison.

Jahmaro “Bingy” Edgecome was found guilty in April 2019 of murdering Kenyari Lightbourne.

On June 21, 2016, Lightbourne was shot multiple times while walking through his neighbourhood off Market street. He died at the scene.

Edgecombe’s trial began in November 2018 and ended April 2019, when he was convicted of the offence.

In 2020, Edgecombe was sentenced to 65 years behind bars.

 The same year, he filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence, but his appeal was said to have been filed too late.

 As a result, he later filed seven amended grounds of appeal in 2021 when he argued that “a material irregularity occurred during the trial when the learned trial judge misdirected the jury on how the statement of Calderon Brown should be treated during the summing Up.”

 Further to this he argued that “inadmissible evidence was wrongly admitted during trial” and “the verdict could not be supported by the evidence.”

 Edgecombe also contended that the sentence passed was “based on a wrong principle of law” and “unduly harsh and excessive.”

 Justices Sir Michael Barnett, John Isaacs and Carolita Bethel granted his appeal and remitted the case back to the Supreme Court for a retrial to be heard “on the earliest practicable date.”

 “We are satisfied that the appellant’s ground one has merit and that the consequence of this must vitiate the trial and lead us to conclude that his conviction cannot stand,” the judgment said.

“We regard Mr. Collie’s concession as rightly made and that the judge’s directions do amount to a misdirection. Hence, ground one of the appeal has merit and augurs well for the success of the appeal. We are called upon to perform a balancing exercise by placing onto one side of the scale those matters that argue for an order for a retrial and on the other side, those matters that argue for no order for a retrial to be made. We are satisfied that when all of the factors are weighed, the scale tips toward a retrial as it is in the interest of justice that the guilt or innocence of the appellant be ventilated in a criminal trial unburdened by any technical blunders.”