A St Thomas man, who said he played dead after being shot at close range by cops in an incident which those same cops allege was a shoot-out, last week got his 18-year jail time reduced, but only by two years, after the Appeal Court conceded that his constitutional rights had been breached.

Rockwell West was, in May 2013, convicted for the offences of illegal possession of firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, and shooting with intent in the High Court Division of the Gun Court following a trial. He was sentenced to 12 years at hard labour for each count of illegal possession of firearm, eight years at hard labour for illegal possession of ammunition, and 18 years at hard labour for shooting with intent. The sentences were to run concurrently, making it so that he would serve the longest of the three, meaning 18 years in total.

West, however, applied for leave to appeal that same month, but it took nine years for the transcript of the trial proceedings to be submitted to the Appeal Court.

In that appeal West contended, among other things, that the prosecution witnesses misidentified him, that there was insufficient evidence pinning the crime to him, that there was a miscarriage of justice, and that the transcript and appeal hearing delay resulted in a breach of his constitutional rights. He, however, abandoned the challenge to his conviction and sentence.

The Court of Appeal, in ruling on the matter last Friday, said in its view “the evidence on which the applicant was convicted of the offences was strong”. It said West’s attorney, on the instruction of his client, was correct in the decision to abandon the challenge to his client’s convictions for the offences.

It, however, conceded that the delay between the applicant’s conviction and the provision of the complete record, which is just over half of his 18-year sentence for shooting with intent, “is a clear breach of the applicant’s right to a hearing within a reasonable time”.

“It is unfortunate that in recent times this court has had to examine and rule on a number of cases in which there has been significant delay in the provision of transcripts, which has, in turn, resulted in a delay in the hearing of a number of applications and appeals. Where the delay in the hearing of an appeal or application is caused by the late provision of the record or notes of proceedings, there is no question that this is no fault of the appellant or applicant,” the court said.

As such, the Appeal Court said, having considered the circumstances, it concluded that an appropriate redress for the breach of the applicant’s right to a hearing within a reasonable time is a reduction in the sentence imposed.

“We agree with the submission of counsel for the Crown that in the instant case, a reduction of two years in the applicant’s sentence for shooting with intent is appropriate redress for the breach of his constitutional right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time,” it said.

In dismissing his application for leave to appeal the convictions, the court set aside the 18-year sentence at hard labour and substituted it for a sentence of 16 years imprisonment at hard labour. The sentence is to be treated as having started on May 21, 2013, the date on which it was originally imposed.

In the evidence led by the Crown during the trial, two cops were on mobile patrol duty in a marked police vehicle along the Stewart Field main road in Seaforth, St Thomas, when upon reaching a place called “Gully”, three men emerged from the left embankment to the road. According to the cops, West was one of the three and was carrying a khaki bag strapped to his body.

According to the police, the men ignored their instruction to stop and ran into a lane instead. When the cops chased them, West was said to have pulled a gun and fired at the police. The fire was returned and he fell, while his cronies ran.

However, West said that he had been merely walking along the road when the two men in question were being accosted by the police. He said one of the men, in running away, collided with him, pushing him to the ground.

He claimed that as he regained his footing he came face-to-face with one of the cops who pointed a handgun at him and shot him twice while asking him for the other two men. He told the court at the time that he “played dead” until he was “taken to the hospital”. He denied having a bag, or any weapons or pointing and shooting at the police.

Evidence led during the trial from a medical doctor said West had gunshot wounds to his chest, left upper arm, and right forearm. Forensic analysis of a beige patterned bag allegedly taken from the applicant showed human blood on various areas of the bag. Two nine-millimetre spent casings as well as what appeared to be blood were also found on the scene.

West, who is currently held at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, had complained to the court that he suffers from kidney disease and at times urinates blood. In addition, he said he has painful haemorrhoids and, although dates have been set for him to do corrective surgery, the operations have been cancelled for one reason or another. He stated that during his imprisonment he has been held in the general population and not in any special section for prisoners on remand or on appeal.