Seven-year jail sentence overthrown; re-trial ordered for St Joseph man

Despite many attempts from State lawyer Wayne Norde, Denny Shillingford of St Joseph, who was sentenced to serve seven years in prison in May, after a jury found him guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to Davidson Joseph, successfully appealed against his conviction and sentencing  at Eastern Caribbean Court of Justice yesterday.

His sentence has therefore been quashed and a retrial was ordered.  Shillingford had allegedly instructed his pit-bull to attack the complainant in the early hours of the morning of September 24, 2009 at St Joseph.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal ruled that Justice Birnie Stephenson-Brooks who presided over the matter, failed to direct the jury, to consider the issue of self defence during their deliberations. The justices of appeal believe that this could have resulted in a different verdict.

The judged argued that both the prosecution and defence cases, gave indications that Shillingford had been attacked by the complainant, after which his dog ended up biting Joseph, causing serious injury to his leg.

“This is a very unusual case. Most unusual,” one of the three justices of appeal stated. “The circumstances of this particular offense is very peculiar.”

“The trial judge should have given directions…They [the jury] never got it” one justice of appeal said.

Shillingford, who represented himself at yesterday’s hearing, maintained that he defended himself during the altercation and never instructed his dog to attack Joseph. He claimed he was the one who actually called upon the pit-bull (named “Milkshake”) to stop biting Joseph after the fight.

“I was attacked by the same guy…I asked him why he attacked me for. He said to me I entered his place which I didn’t do,” Shillingford told the judges.

“Yes I beat him, but I have no reason to attack him. He is the persons who attacked me. When I disarm him the dog bit him…I hit him seven times through anger,” Shillingford stated.

The judges revealed that Shillingford had several previous offenses which include resisting arrests, battery on police, wounding and escaping prison.

Shillingford’s request for self bail was denied in the meanwhile, as Chief Justice Hugh Rawlins said it was not his jurisdiction at this juncture. He said that the Director of Public Prosecutions is responsible for this.

The evidence of the complainant during the trial was that Shillingford allowed the dog to bite him on his right leg which caused him to be hospitalized for several weeks.

The 53-year–old witness told the court: “When I got up I noticed my door had been opened which I had locked with a rope and a hook. I see my purse which I had $310 missing… I take a look in my window… I could see somebody going down the road going to the south….”

According to Joseph, the incident occurred in an area called Back Street in the said community.

“When I reach between two houses, I hear footsteps running towards me. Then I noticed is Denny Shillingford. There was light from the post lighting… He ran to the corner. He ask me what I monitoring him for…. He had a white and black dog in his hand,” the witness explained.

“He say [take him, kill him]… It grabbed me on my right arm…. When I swing my hand the dog mouth moved. Then Denny Shillingford jumped on me, pull out a cutlass…The dog hold me in the right foot… In wrestling, he was asking the dog to [take him, kill him]. I keep on screaming for help. [Somebody help me please, I dying…He was lashing me with the cutlass on my back,” Joseph added.

The complainant also stated that the defendant had also struck him with a stone at the back of his head during the incident.

Meanwhile Shillingford had told the court in his testimony that Joseph was the aggressor and had attacked him with a cutlass which led to the dog biting him. He said he never told his dog to kill the complainant.