After serving 23 years in prison, a man convicted of murder was yesterday ordered to be released by the Privy Council.In allowing the appeal of Rajendra Krishna, the five-member judicial committee agreed that a retrial would not be in the best interest of justice.In delivering his 15-page judgment, Sir Henry Brooke said Krishna's case was exceptional, as the crime was committed 27 years ago and because he spent 23 years in custody, part of which was on death row.
Krishna was convicted in 1988 before Justice Conrad Douglin in the San Fernando Assizes for the murder of Mycee Jagmohan and was initially sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment.Jagmohan was shot dead at her La Fortune, Woodland, La Romaine, home on May 26, 1984, during an attempted robbery. Krishna was jointly charged with another man, who was later acquitted on the murder charge. A third accomplice became the prosecution's principal witness in Krishna's trial.
Krishna's application for leave to appeal before the Court of Appeal was dismissed in October 1995 by Justices Satnarine Sharma, Lloyd Gopeesingh and Zainool Hosein.On June 23, 2010, he was granted special leave, as a poor person, to appeal to the Privy Council.In his judgment, Brooke concluded that the trial judge's failure to properly direct the jury on the principal witness's involvement in the crime was a material irregularity.
The five Law Lords of the committee also agreed that by repeatedly referring to a ruling made on the admissibility of an alleged confession to the murder by Krishna was a material irregularity.In his defence during the trial, Krishna claimed that he was forced to sign the confession by the police who used violence, including cutting him on the neck with a piece of broken glass. Justice Douglin later decided that the written confession was given voluntarily by Krishna and it was presented to the jury. The judicial committee of yesterday's sitting of the Privy Council also included Lords Phillip, Mance, Clarke and Hamilton.