A Chaguanas man, who was convicted of killing a 17-year-old schoolboy in 2007, yesterday had his conviction and sentence for murder quashed. Marvin Nedd, also called "Terry", 26, of Flemming Street, Longdenville, was, however, ordered to face a retrial when he appeared before the Court of Appeal.
The panel, comprising Justices Paula Mae Weekes, Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Rajendra Narine, agreed two to one that the conviction be quashed. Weekes was the dissenting judge. In a written judgment, Yorke-Soo Hon upheld the appeal on the ground the trial judge erred when he withdrew the issue of provocation from the jury. That, the judge found, thereby deprived the appellant of being convicted on the lesser count of manslaughter.
Attorneys for the appellant, Israel Khan, SC, and Daniel Khan, had listed that argument as their first ground of appeal. Dana Seetahal, SC, appeared for the state. Nedd was convicted of the murder of Clinton Sealey on June 27, 2007 in a trial before Justice Devan Rampersad in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Court. Sealey, 17, of Flemming Street, Longdenville, Chaguanas, was stabbed in his neck during an altercation at his home on December 26, 2004.
At the trial, the defence had raised the issue of accident. According to the defence, Nedd was intervening in a squabble and started struggling with the deceased who had whipped out a knife. During the struggle, the defence contended, the deceased fell and Nedd fell on top of him. He said he did not stab or cut the deceased. Nedd will now be removed from Death Row and placed into remand prison.