Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
A High Court Judge has permanently stayed the prosecution of a 62-year-old man, accused of murdering a one-year-old baby during a domestic dispute with her grandmother and mother in 2021, after prosecutors sought to withdraw a plea deal for a lesser offence.
In a ruling delivered late last week, Justice Nalini Singh found that the move by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Neville Simon’s case was an abuse of process and offended the core principles of fairness.
Justice Singh said: “To permit the State now to resile without judicial sanction would erode confidence in the plea process and in the integrity of prosecutorial commitments.”
“Indeed, it would convey the impression that the State may revoke accepted bargains at will, eroding confidence in the transparency and finality that the Criminal Procedure (Plea Discussions and Plea Agreement) Act was designed to secure.”
Simon was accused of murdering Sirah Williams at his Tarodale, Ste Madeleine, home, on September 19, 2021.
Simon was reportedly having an argument with his common-law wife Michelle Williams and her daughter Nikitak, who was the child’s mother.
He went inside and returned with a cutlass, which he used to attack the women.
The toddler was in her grandmother’s arms and was chopped on her head while her grandmother was chopped several times about her body.
Simon was charged with the child’s murder, for the attempted murder of her grandmother, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and common assault.
When Simon was committed to stand trial after his sufficiency hearing in June, the DPP’s Office filed two indictments against him – one for the child’s murder and the other in relation to the attack on her grandmother and mother.
A month later, Simon’s lawyers Michelle Gonzales, and Aleena Ramjag, of the Public Defenders’ Department (PDD), wrote to the DPP’s Office requesting that he be allowed to plead guilty to the lesser offence of unlawful act manslaughter in relation to Williams’ murder.
During an open court hearing before Justice Singh in September, State prosecutors announced that they had accepted the offer and began the process of obtaining reports to assist in his sentencing.
Several weeks later, the DPP’s Office sent correspondence indicating that it was withdrawing the offer as it felt that the legal principle of transferred malice could apply in relation to Simon’s case.
Under the principle, an accused person is held to have the intent to murder when they intend to harm a person but instead harm an unintended victim.
In deciding the case, Justice Singh found that the DPP’s Office could not seek to unilaterally terminate the offer once it was at an advanced stage.
“I find that the plea discussion in this case had matured to a binding and enforceable understanding,” she said.
Stating that the move without lawful justification could potentially bring the administration of justice in disrepute, Justice Singh said: “I expect the State to stand by its word when it has publicly represented a position before a court.”
Justice Singh also found that the conduct of the DPP’s Office undermined the integrity of the criminal justice system.
“That erodes the very trust that enables plea discussions to function and that underpins judicial case management,” she said.
Justice Singh said that Simon being afforded a fair trial in the future could not cure the harm that was already done.
“Even if a fair trial could still be staged, the question is whether allowing the prosecution to proceed after this reversal would affront the court’s sense of justice and propriety...My conclusion on this question is therefore an unreserved yes,” she said.
Stating that a permanent stay was appropriate to vindicate the conduct, Justice Singh said: “Even allowing for the seriousness of the alleged offending, the integrity costs of condoning this reversal are too high.”
While the reversal was only related to the indictment for the child’s murder, Justice Singh decided to apply the stay to the other indictment related to the child’s mother and grandmother.
“The Court is satisfied that the continuation of proceedings on the related indictment would perpetuate the same abuse,” she said.
The outcome meant that Simon was immediately discharged.
The DPP’s Office was represented by Maria Lyons-Edwards, Dylan Martin, Cassie Bisram, and Afeisha Williams.
