Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
| DOI | 10.1177/002201830006400103 |
| Date | 01 February 2000 |
| Published date | 01 February 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Judicial Committee
of
the Privy
Council
The Failure to Advance aDefence at Trial
was
not a
TacticalPloy
Adolphus Campbell v The State (unreported, 20 August 1999)
The
appellant
lived in
the
home
of
the
deceased,
AV,
and
his wife,
JV,
at
Daniel Trace in Tobago. During
the
morning
of 28
February
1993,
the
persons
present
in
the
house
were
AV
and
JY,
the
appellant,
two
men,
JD
and
OM,
and
a
woman
called SG.
About
1O.45am OM
and
SG
went
into
a
bedroom.
The evidence of OM
and
SG was
that
the
latter
was
OM's
common
law wife. In cross-examination SG
denied
being
the
appellant's
common
law wife or
that
she
and
the
appellant
had
ever
had
asexual relationship. At some stage
the
appellant
ran
into
the
room
armed
with
a
kitchen
knife
with
which
he attacked OM
and
SG. OM
ran
out
of
the
house
with
the
appellant in pursuit. JD
ran
after
the
appellant
and
the
appellant
then
asked
him
if he (JD) could follow OM
with
his
car,
but
JD refused. The appellant
then
returned
to
the
living
room
where
he
met
AV
coming
out
of a bedroom. The appellant
chopped
AV
in
the
centre
of his forehead
with
the
cutlass
and
chopped
him
across
the
face
and
AV
slid to
the
ground. Adoctor was
summoned.
On arrival
and
examination
of
AV
the
doctor
pronounced
him
dead. Shortly
after
the
attack
an
ambulance
arrived
and
the
appellant
approached
the
ambu-
lance driver
and
said: 'I
just
kill a
man.
I
want
to give myself
up.'
The
appellant
was later given
into
the
custody of a Sergeant Cummings. He
was
detained
at a local police station. About
5pm
Sergeant
Cummings
saw
the
appellant in
the
police station
and
told
him
he was investigating
the
death
of
AV
and
cautioned
him.
The appellant replied: 'Boss I will
take
you
where
I
hide
the
cutlass.' Sergeant Cummings
took
the
appel-
lant
to
the
house
of
AV
and
on
arrival
the
appellant
took
him
to
some
grass
on
the
southern
side of
the
house
where
he took up a cutlass
and
said: 'Boss, this is
the
cutlass I
chopped
the
man
to
death
with'.
The
appellant was later charged
with
the
murder
of
AV.
At
the
appellant's trial he elected
not
to give evidence in his
own
defence,
although
one
witness was called
on
his behalf. She was Dr
Helene Crooks, apsychiatrist
who
had
come to Tobago
two
weeks before
the
start of
the
trial to become
the
medical director of
the
Scarborough
Hospital in Tobago. Her evidence-in-chief was to
the
effect
that
the
appellant
should
have
been
referred to a psychiatrist. In cross-examina-
tion
she
said
that
she
could
not
give
any
formal assessment of his
mental
state.
She
said
there
was a strong possibility
the
appellant was
paranoid.
She concluded by saying
that
she
could
not
say
the
appellant
was
paranoid
not
having
interviewed
him.
In his closing speech,
counsel
for
the
appellant told
the
jury
that
the
appellant's defence was
temporary
insanity
and
provocation. In his
summing-up
the
trial
judge
told
the
jury
66
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