Teeluck and another v State of Trinidad and Tobago
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judge | Lord Carswell |
| Judgment Date | 23 March 2005 |
| Neutral Citation | [2005] UKPC 14 |
| Court | Privy Council |
| Docket Number | Appeal No. 36 of 2004 |
| Date | 23 March 2005 |
[2005] UKPC 14
Present at the hearing:-
Lord Hoffmann
Lord Hope of Craighead
Lord Hutton
Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe
Lord Carswell
Privy Council
[Delivered by Lord Carswell]
This appeal is brought by special leave against the order of the Court of Appeal of Trinidad and Tobago (Hamel-Smith, Permanand and Jones JJA) dated 26 March 2002, whereby the court dismissed the appeals of the appellants Jason Ellis John and Mark Teeluck against their conviction on 14 July 2000 of the murder of Narvin Nandlal after a trial in the High Court of Trinidad and Tobago before Lucky J and a jury. Both appellants were found guilty on the single count on the indictment of murder and the mandatory sentence of death was imposed on each.
The prosecution case was as follows. On Friday 12 December 1997 Armanath Moonilal, a dealer in livestock, and his nephew Narvin Nandlal, a youth aged 19 years, were in the Palo Seco/Erin area seeking animals to purchase. About 11 am the pick-up truck in which they were travelling was stopped by a man, whom Moonilal subsequently picked out on an identification parade as the appellant Mark Teeluck. Teeluck told them that he had two bulls for sale, quoting a price. Moonilal demanded identification, to which Teeluck offered to provide a pink slip (a document in use in Trinidad and Tobago which is regularly used to furnish some evidence of identity). Teeluck left them a short while later and returned some time about 11.30 with a pink slip bearing his name and address and a straight-handled cutlass. He got into the van again and directed Moonilal to Oilfield Road, the van being stopped where a track joins the road. Teeluck asked for assistance to bring out the animals and Nandlal accompanied him along the track.
Moonilal waited in the van for about half an hour, and when the others had not then returned he walked along the track for about 500 feet, where he called out loudly. He heard two strange voices saying "Come here, boy", but did not hear his nephew. He started to walk back towards the van when he heard someone calling him. He looked back and saw, at a distance which he estimated at 460 feet, a man about six feet tall, who appeared to be shining with sweat. Moonilal felt that something was wrong, so instead of going to this man he returned to his van.
About 2.30 that afternoon Moonilal reported the matter at Santa Flora police station and produced the pink slip. He took a police officer to the track off Oilfield Road, where about 3.30 they found Nandlal's body. Other police officers later arrived and Dr Surandra Bhimsingh certified death. Subsequent post mortem examination established that the deceased had died of multiple chop wounds. The pathologist's report records five substantial wounds involving the head, face and neck, three of them on the back of the head and associated with underlying fractures of the skull.
That evening between 6.50 and 7.15 police officers carried out searches, authorised by warrants, of the houses of the two appellants, neither of whom was at home at the time, and removed various items. From John's house they took items of clothing and from Teeluck's they seized a cutlass, a pink slip matching the one given to Moonilal and a towel bearing dark stains which appeared to them to be blood.
At 11 pm the same evening Teeluck came voluntarily along with his father to the police station at Siparia, where he was seen by Corporal Celestine Phillip and other officers. Cpl Phillip told him that he was a suspect in the murder of Narvin Nandlal, to which he said "Officer, I will tell you the truth, but I ent want to talk in front meh father". His trainers, which appeared to be bloodstained, were seized.
At 11.30 pm Teeluck dictated a written statement taken after caution to Cpl Phillip, who recorded it. It was a long statement, recorded in the vernacular and written in handwriting which is somewhat difficult to decipher, in which Teeluck recounted a version of the events of that day. At the material portion he stated that he and Nandlal met John in the track, where there was a conversation about selling sheep. Teeluck then heard something like a planass (a stroke with the flat of a cutlass) or chop in the head. John asked Nandlal for money and Nandlal said that Moonilal had it. Then he produced folded notes amounting to about $200, which John took and put in his pocket. John then hit him three or four chops and asked if that was all the money, to which he replied that it was. John and Teeluck then left and appear to have tried to get Moonilal to come to them. When Moonilal failed to do so, Teeluck warned John that he had gone for the police and they left the scene. When they got home John warned Teeluck to keep quiet about what had happened. The remainder of the statement concerns their activities that evening and the spending of the money that they had taken from Nandlal.
The next morning Mr Phillip Copeland, a justice of the peace, was asked to come to the police station, in accordance with the usual practice in Trinidad and Tobago, to verify Teeluck's statement. Shortly after midday he was shown the statement and asked Teeluck if any threats or promises or inducements had been given to him to give the statement, to which Teeluck said that they had not. The statement was read over to the appellant, who was asked if he wished to make any alterations. Teeluck said that he did not and that the statement was true and correct and given of his own free will. Mr Copeland certified the statement and it was countersigned by the police officers and also by the appellant.
On Saturday 13 December 1997 about 3 am John was arrested at his home. He denied any knowledge of the murder. He was brought to Siparia police station, where at 11.50 he was again cautioned and said that he knew nothing about the murder. That afternoon his house was again searched and more clothing and a cutlass were seized.
On Sunday 14 December 1997 at 3 pm John was seen by ASP Victor, Cpl Celestine Phillip and Cpl Clyde Phillip. After being informed of the nature of the investigation and cautioned, he asked to see Cpl Clyde Phillip alone. When the other officers had left John said to Phillip "I chop the man behind his head but it is Mark who kill him." In consequence of this Mr Copeland was again sent for and at 3.50 pm John made a written statement. In the statement he said that he and Teeluck had been "liming" (hanging about talking) the whole week and wanted to get money for Christmas. They hatched a robbery plan together and John fetched his father's cutlass. They met the victim and at a sign from Teeluck John "planassed" him with the cutlass. The man fell down and Teeluck got $270.00 from him, which John put in his pocket. Teeluck signed to John to chop him, which John did, and as he got up Teeluck chopped him again. John chopped him some more, whereupon Teeluck said that he did not want to go to jail and decided to kill him. John called the other man, but he did not come, so they two men made off. They spent all the money that day, except for $7.00, which still remained. He had lied to the police until Sunday 14 December, when he told one of the inspectors the truth.
The statement was taken in the presence of Mr Copeland JP, who satisfied himself first that he gave it of his own free will. John was offered the opportunity to alter, correct or add to the statement before it was completed. It was signed by the appellant John and countersigned by the two officers present and by Mr Copeland.
At 6.45 pm that day John called out to Cpl Celestine Phillip in the police station and gave him $7.00 in Trinidad and Tobago currency, which he said was all the money remaining from what they took from the dead man.
At 9.45 pm the same day Teeluck called out to Cpl Phillip that he would tell the truth now. Mr Copeland was summoned again and in his presence a second written statement was taken from Teeluck between 10.25 pm and 11.45 pm. In the statement he recounted basically the same account as before, up to the point where John asked Nandlal for money. At that point the statement reads (Record, pages 241-2):
"Jay end up asking meh kill him, he read lips meh, ah do so and bow mih head. Now Jay end up hitting him the chop and ask him for the money he had two something in the pocket and he hand it to Jay. Jay put it in the pocket, then ah ask him, dah all the money yuh have boy, he say yeh and ah hit him ah chop, after he end up getting up and Jay hit ah next chop, then he was braksing and ah swing the cutlass again and ah chop him again. Jay end up asking him again if that is all the money he say Fatman have the money, he say boy yuh lying and he hit him ah chop again with ah planass then he fell on the ground."
They left the scene and tried to get the other man to come, but when he failed to do so they reckoned he had gone for the police and left. Teeluck repeated his account of how they spent the evening. He admitted that he had lied at first, but said that he was now telling the truth. The statement was witnessed and verified by Mr Copeland in the same way as he had done with John's statement.
An identification parade was held on Monday 15 December 1997, at which Teeluck was one of the men in the line-up and Moonilal identified him as the man who had gone with Nandlal down the track. The officer in charge Inspector Nathaniel stated in evidence that before it commenced he explained its purpose to Teeluck and cautioned him. Teeluck then stated:
"Boss I begging for forgiveness. Jay told me to chop the man and I gave him two chops. We only went to rob. Jay hit him some chop and he fall down on the ground. He take two hundred and something dollars and we went to...
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