HAROLD WHITE Vs. KING

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by special leave from the judgment of the Court of Appeal at Jamaica, dated 6 January 1944, dismissing the appellant's appeal on his conviction before Watts J. and a jury at Sav-la-Mar on the Northern Circuit for the Parish of Westmoreland, Jamaica, on 26 November 1943, for the murder of Lamton Woolcock on 2 September, 1913.

(2.) The appellant was arraigned on indictment before Watts J. with the murder, on 2 September, 1943, of Lamton Woolcock in the Parish of Westmoreland. He pleaded "Not Guilty" and a jury of 12 men was sworn to try the case. The trial proceeded from 22nd to 26 November 1943, when the appellant was found guilty and convicted and sentenced to death. He appealed to the Court of Appeal in Jamaica, and on 6 January 1944, his appeal was dismissed without any reasons being given by the Court. At the conclusion of the argument, before this Board their Lordships announced that they would humbly advise His Majesty that the appeal should be allowed and the conviction quashed, and that they would state their reasons in writing at a later date. This they proceed to do.

(3.) According to the evidence of the widow of the murdered man, he left his house, in accordance with his usual custom, at about 3.30 p.m. on 2 September, to go to a piece of land called "Confusion" on which he grew cocoanuts and kept cattle, and which was rather less than half-a-mile from his house. The deceased usually returned to his home at about 5 P.M. and when he did not come on the day in question his wife went to look for him, and at about 5.45 P.M. she found his dead body lying on. "Confusion." from the wounds on the body, which included 7 incised wounds, it is obvious that the man had been brutally murdered. This evidence has been accepted by both parties and makes it clear that the murder must have been committed at some time between 3.45 P.M. and 5.45 P.M. on 2nd September.