Neville Lewis and Others v Attorney General of Jamaica and Another
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judge | Lord Slynn of Hadley,Lord Hoffmann |
| Judgment Date | 12 September 2000 |
| Judgment citation (vLex) | [2000] UKPC J0912-1 |
| Court | Privy Council |
| Docket Number | Appeals Nos. 60 of 1999, 65 of 1999 69 of 1999 and 10 of 2000 |
| Date | 12 September 2000 |
[2000] UKPC J0912-1
Present at the hearing:-
Lord Slynn of Hadley
Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead
Lord Steyn
Lord Hoffmann
Lord Hutton
Privy Council
[Majority Judgment delivered by Lord Slynn of Hadley]
These six appellants have been sentenced to death in Jamaica after conviction of murder. The appeals have been heard together because they all raise two important points – put broadly (a) whether on a petition for mercy (after all other domestic attempts to set aside the convictions or to prevent execution have been exhausted) the appellants are entitled to know what material the Jamaican Privy Council had before it and to make representations as to why mercy should be granted and (b) whether they have a right not to be executed before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights or the United Nations Human Rights Committee has finally reported on their petitions. In addition the appellants contend that the passage of time and the several ways in which they were treated in prison constituted inhuman or degrading treatment within the meaning of the Constitution of Jamaica so that they should not be executed.
The Board has had the great advantage of full and carefully prepared arguments of principle on behalf of all the appellants and the Attorney-General of Jamaica. Moreover, exceptionally, because the Board was being asked to review the decisions of the Board in de Freitas v. Benny [1976] A.C. 239, and in Reckley v. Minister of Public Safety and Immigration (No. 2) [1996] A.C. 527, the Attorney-General of Trinidad and Tobago and The Bahamas were given leave to intervene as also were five petitioners from Belize. The Board is grateful to all counsel, and to the firms of solicitors who have conducted these appeals, for their assistance not only in the written cases and at the hearing but also in supplementary submissions sent by the respondents on 17th May 2000, by the interveners on 22nd May and by the appellants in reply on 26th May 2000. All these appeals come from decisions of the Court of Appeal of Jamaica on constitutional motions.
The Constitution
Section 13 of the Constitution contained in Schedule 2 to the Jamaica (Constitution) Order in Council 1962 ( S.I. 1962 No. 1550) provides that every person in Jamaica is entitled to the fundamental right without discrimination, but subject to the rights and freedoms of others and the public interest, inter alia to "the protection of the law". Subsequent provisions of Chapter III "shall have effect for the purpose of affording protection to" such right.
By section 1(1) "'law' includes any instrument having the force of law and any unwritten rule of law".
By section 14(1): "No person shall intentionally be deprived of his life save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been convicted". By section 17(1): "No person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading punishment or other treatment".
By section 25 a person who alleges that "any of the provisions of sections 14 to 24 (inclusive) of this Constitution has been, is being or is likely to be contravened in relation to him, … may apply to the Supreme Court …[which] may make such orders … and give such directions as it may consider appropriate for the purpose of enforcing, or securing the enforcement of, any of the provisions of the said sections 14 to 24 (inclusive) to the protection of which the person concerned is entitled".
The chronology
Neville Lewis
Neville Lewis was convicted on 14th October 1994 of the murder on 18th October 1992 of Vic Higgs and was sentenced to death. His appeal against conviction was dismissed on 31st July 1995 and on 13th February 1996 the Jamaican Privy Council refused to recommend that the prerogative of mercy be exercised in his favour. On 2nd May 1996 he was refused special leave to appeal by the Board, and on 24th May 1996 he petitioned the United Nations Human Rights Committee. On 17th July 1997 the United Nations Human Rights Committee declared that articles 9(3) also 10(1) and 10(2)(a) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights had been violated in his case. On 9th September 1997 a second petition for mercy was refused by the Jamaican Privy Council and on 12th September a warrant for his execution on 25th September was read to him but that was withdrawn three days later. On 2nd October 1997 he made an application to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights which on 20th November 1997 asked Jamaica to stay Lewis' execution until it had a chance to investigate his case.
On 14th August 1998 a second warrant was issued this time for execution on 27th August but following his application under the Constitution (sections 13, 14, 17 and 24) a stay of execution was granted on 20th August. On 17th December 1998 the Inter-American Commission declared his application inadmissible but without prejudice to his right to resubmit it later.
The application under the Constitution was refused by the Supreme Court on 7th January 1999 and a third warrant for execution on 2nd February 1999 was issued on 20th January. On 3rd February the Court of Appeal granted a stay of execution until the determination of his appeal from the Supreme Court's decision. That appeal was allowed in part in that the Governor-General's instructions published on 7th August 1997 laying down a timetable for the conduct of applications to international human rights bodies were held to be unlawful. The Court ruled that the appellant was entitled to have his petition to the Inter-American Commission decided as part of his right to the protection of the law and the time limits laid down were in any event too short. The Court of Appeal held, however, that his rights under the Constitution had not been violated so that he was refused relief on the constitutional motion. On 21st September 1999 the appellant was granted leave to appeal to the Privy Council and his execution was stayed.
Patrick Taylor
On 25th July 1994 Patrick Taylor was convicted with his brother Desmond Taylor and Steve Shaw on four counts of non-capital murder on 27th March 1992 and he was sentenced to death because of the multiple murders. On 24th July 1995 his appeal against conviction was dismissed and on 6th June 1996 the Board refused him special leave to appeal. Following his application on 14th June 1996 the United Nations Human Rights Committee found violations of articles 6, 9(2) and (3), 10(1), 14(1) and (3)(c) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and held that he was entitled to commutation of the death sentence.
In 1998 on 10th July he was told by the Jamaican Government that the opinion of the United Nations Human Rights Committee would not be followed and that he would not be granted mercy. On 19th August his application to the Inter-American Commission was held inadmissible because he had already applied to another international body but the Commission asked Jamaica to commute the death sentence for humanitarian reasons.
In 1999 a warrant for his execution on 26th January was read to him on 15th January. He brought a constitutional motion on 22nd January but a stay of execution was refused initially by the judge on 25th January and then on 20th May by the Court of Appeal. On 14th June he was given conditional leave and on 25th October final leave to appeal to the Board and a stay was granted. The Court of Appeal which heard his appeal heard at the same time the appeals of McLeod and Brown.
Anthony McLeod
On 22nd September 1995 McLeod was convicted of the murder of Anthony Buchanan on 3rd December 1994 and sentenced to death. His application for leave to appeal against conviction was dismissed on 20th March 1996 his counsel having conceded, it is said erroneously, that there were no arguable grounds of appeal. In 1997 the Board refused him special leave to appeal on 16th January and on the same day a submission was made to the United Nations Human Rights Committee under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee's response was adopted on 31st March 1998. On 20th July 1998 a further submission was made to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights but on 3rd August they replied that the submission could not be processed since an application had already been considered by another international organisation. They wrote however to Jamaica asking for the sentence to be commuted on humanitarian grounds.
In 1999 on 25th January a writ was issued claiming that it would be unlawful to execute him. His application for a stay of execution pending the determination of his constitutional action was dismissed by the trial judge and by the Court of Appeal. The latter however gave leave to appeal to the Board.
Christopher Brown
On 28th October 1993 Brown was convicted of the murder of Alvin Smith on 16th October 1991 and was sentenced to death. On 18th July 1994 his appeal was allowed and a retrial ordered at which on 23rd February 1996 he was convicted and sentenced to death. In 1997 on 23rd October his petition to the Board was dismissed and he lodged an application with the United Nations Human Rights Committee on 12th November. His further application on 3rd August 1998 to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was declared inadmissible on 19th August because of his pending application to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. On 15th January 1999 a warrant for his execution on 28th January was read to...
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