<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sixteen years after\nhis initial conviction and death sentence for the 12-year old Lokeisha Nanton’s\nmurder, 47 year old Patrick Lovelace is still languishing in prison on death\nrow – the lone death-row inmate in St Vincent and the Grenadines, according to prison\nauthorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A prison status\npresented to the High Court at the close of the criminal assizes showed that\nLovelace, who came to national and regional attention following his arrest and\ncharge for the brutal sexual molestation and murder of the Sion Hill resident\nin July 2002, remained on death-row amid pressure from international human\nrights organizations to have death penalties abolished and following a Privy\nCouncil ruling that make it almost impossible for convicted persons to be\nexecuted in its “worst of the worst” case scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nude body of the\ntwelve year old pannist was discovered early morning hanging from a mango tree\non a private property just off the public road leading from Sion Hill to Cane\nGarden. She was raped and strangled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lovelace was arrested\nand charged about a year after the brutal killing. At his trial in 2004, he was\nconvicted and sentenced to hang. He appealed to the Eastern Caribbean Court of\nAppeal and his conviction and sentence were quashed. A retrial was ordered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2009, he was again\nconvicted at his trial and sentenced to hang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2012, he appealed\nhis conviction but lost. In 2014, he made an application to the Eastern\nCaribbean Court of Appeal for an extension of time to file his appeal, this\ntime against his death sentence. But, the court said it had no jurisdiction to\ngrant such extension in cases where the death penalty was imposed. On that\nbasis the application was denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this jurisdiction\nof St Vincent and the Grenadines the law requires that a person convicted must\nwithin 14 days of his conviction file an application for leave to appeal, if so\ndesired. But, convicted persons with death sentences are excluded from that\nprivilege or right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through the efforts\nof Lovelace’s lawyer, Kay Bacchus-Baptiste, the matter attracted international\nattention and so international human rights organizationa the Death Penalty\nProject took the matter to the London-based Privy Council challenging the\nconstitutionality of legal provision which excluded persons sentenced to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dealth Penalty\nProject was successful as the Privy Council ruled that the legal provision was\nunconstitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result of the\nPrivy Council ruling, the matter went back to the Eastern Caribbean Court of\nAppeal. At a sitting in January, this year, the court of appeal granted\nLovelace time to appeal his death sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In some\njurisdictions, the death penalty no longer exists. In St Vincent and the\nGrenadines, the death penalty was once almost automatic on conviction for\nmurder. However, following international pressure by watchdog organizations and\nPrivy Council rulings the court here has relaxed its impositions. However, the\ndeath penalty has not been removed from the law books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sixteen years after his initial conviction and death sentence for the 12-year old Lokeisha Nanton’s murder, 47 year old Patrick Lovelace is still languishing in prison on death row – the lone death-row inmate in St Vincent and the Grenadines, according to prison authorities. A prison status presented to the High Court at the close<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news","category-mainstory"],"yoast_head":"\n