Randy Martin to appear before appeal judges
(CNS): The man who was convicted in January this year of the murder of 21-year-old Sabrina Schirn will have his appeal heard this morning. Randy Martin is the second person convicted of murder to appear before the three judge panel during this Court of Appeal session. On Tuesday the judges quashed the conviction of William Martinez McLaughlin, who was convicted in July 2009 by a jury of murdering Brian Rankine Carter, and ordered a retrial. Martin was found guilty following a judge alone trial and sentenced to the mandatory life sentence. Attorneys will now argue a case for overturning that verdict before Appeal Court President Sir John Chadwick and his colleagues, Justice E Mottley and Dr A O Conteh.
Martin was convicting of killing Schirn with a machete at the prison farm in East End by Justice Charles Quin. During the trial it was revealed that Schirn had voluntarily visited Martin at an infamous meeting spot on the edge of Wilderness Farm in East End after Martin had slipped away from the guards. The prosecution said that during that meeting something had gone wrong and Martin, who has the use of only one arm, had attacked Schirn with the machete he was using for his farm work and left her to die.
The trial revealed that prisoners at the farm were routinely receiving unofficial visits at the location, where they received drugs and engaged in sexual activity with girlfriends. It was also apparent that the inmates had access to mobile phones, which enable them to keep in contact with the outside world at will and organise the clandestine visits and drug deliveries.
Following Schirn’s murder the farm was closed pending a report and has since been permanently closed.
Check back to CNS later today for details of Martin’s appeal and the judges’ decision.
Category: Local News
