Haniyfa Reza White’s Pre-Sentencing report is in hand and lawyers will address the court
on her sentence when she returns in November.
White was back in the No. 5 Supreme Court yesterday where she had been found guilty of murdering her former Six Men’s, St Peter neighbour Julene Bryan on May 14, 2007.
Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Krystal Delaney, who prosecuted along with Senior State Counsel Kevin Forde, appeared for the State, while attorney Safiya Moore represented White.
Justice Pamela Beckles adjourned the matter until November 13 when attorneys will make submissions on sentence.
Until then, White remains on remand at Dodds Prison.
The guilty verdict had capped an 18-year saga that began when White, of Sion Hill, St James, formerly of Six Men’s, was charged in 2007 with the May 14, 2007 murder.
The preliminary inquiry (PI) took five years as the magistrate, who was originally conducting the PI, was reassigned, causing it to be restarted by the new magistrate. In addition, five warrants were issued for White’s arrest and there were five other occasions when she was either sick or attending another charge.
The matter was then committed to the Assizes where it languished in the system before it was discovered.
Then, days before the High Court trial was set to proceed, her civil attorney Lalu Hanuman filed a constitutional motion against the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General, arguing that any potential defence witnesses were either dead, had migrated or their whereabouts
were unknown.
He had argued it would be “impossible [for her] to have a fair trial and [she] should not be put at
risk of conviction and capital punishment by allowing such a trial to proceed”.
Justice Corlita Babb-Schaefer, who heard the constitutional motion, declared the Attorney General had breached White’s rights to a fair hearing in a reasonable time according to Section 18 (1) of the Constitution and referred the matter to the trial judge with a recommendation that the murder charge be dismissed.
However, after unsuccessful argument from attorney Moore, who represented White in the criminal matter, a jury was empanelled on May 12. Her civil attorney Hanuman mounted a challenge to the trial and filed an urgent appeal against the matter.
The Court of Appeal subsequently threw out the appeal, clearing the way for the trial.
The post Killer to learn fate in November appeared first on nationnews.com.
