3/17/2010 11:44:00 AM Death crash driver walks free Trial judge ‘did not properly instruct the jury on the evidence’
* File photo. Free man: Luke Armstrong, left, leaves Supreme Court with his mother, Teresa, during his trial which took place in November of last year.
* File photo. Road to recovery: Victim of the crash, Evelyn Rewan, declined to comment on the outcome of the appeal.
A British expatriate has walked free from court after his conviction for causing death by dangerous driving was overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Luke Armstrong was jailed for 15 months last November for causing a head-on crash on South Road, Warwick, that claimed the life of Winston 'Yogi' Burrows.
But yesterday Mr. Armstrong was acquitted of three charges relating to the fatal crash after three appeal judges held that trial judge Justice Norma Wade-Miller had failed to properly direct the jury on how to treat pieces of evidence during her summing up.
As a result, the 25-year-old from Lincolnshire was freed immediately after serving four months in prison.
Mr. Armstrong looked stunned as he stood in the dock after he was told he was free to go home.
He repeatedly said: "I don't believe it. I have prayed every day for this," to a couple of supporters who sat in the public gallery.
Mr. Armstrong called his girlfriend, Natasha, from the courtroom to tell her the news.
He said: "I have been released. I would not joke about it. I can not believe it. I don't know what to say."
Mr. Armstrong's lawyer, Saul Froomkin QC, rang his client's parents, David and Teresa, in England to tell them their son was a free man.
He told the Bermuda Sun: "I think it is fair to say that Luke's parents are ecstatic and relieved.
"I think Luke is going to go home as soon as he can get transportation."
Mr. Armstrong told reporters there was nothing he wanted to say as he was led away from court.
His acquittal came just less than a year after he was involved in a horrific crash in which his van collided with a car being driven by Mr. Burrows.
As a result of the collision Mr. Burrows died and his two passengers, Honest Masawi and Evelyn Rewan, were seriously injured. We spoke to Evelyn Rewan after yesterday's verdict but she declined to comment.
Mr. Armstrong went on trial at Supreme Court last November.
During the trial the jury heard that Mr. Armstrong had been drinking on the night in question and prosecutors claimed he had crossed over on to the wrong side of the road when the crash took place.
At the end of the trial he was convicted of causing the death of Mr. Burrows by dangerous driving and two counts of causing injury by dangerous driving relating to the two passengers.
But yesterday, Court of Appeal judges said the trial judge had not properly instructed the jury on how to weigh up all the factors such as gouge marks and scrape marks on the road, as well as Mr. Armstrong's alleged drinking, in deciding what amounted to dangerous driving.
Prosecutor Cindy Clarke also conceded that this was "fatal" to the case against Armstrong and accepted that his appeal should be upheld.
During the hearing, Mr. Froomkin QC also argued that the trial judge had failed to distinguish between what was careless driving and what was dangerous driving.
He added: "The direction to the jury was wrong - careless driving should not have been equated with dangerous driving."
Did we learn anything from the Rebecca Middleton Case. Well I guess not?!! I think its very careless on the judge's part and unfair for the families that have suffered and a lost loved one and endured such pain and nothing is done to make them feel that justice has been served in their families case. Its just all wrong.
Posted: Thursday, March 18, 2010
Comment by:
M. Cranberry
I agree with Khomeini Taalib-Din, I wonder if there is a tally kept of how many cases are overturned on appeal? In this particular case you cannot blame the prosecution for the reversal - The court of appeal found that the presiding judge "had failed to properly direct the jury on how to treat pieces of evidence..." Does this count against the judge - or is it just 'one of those things...'?
Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Comment by:
Khomeini Taalib-Din
It is very disheartening
When it seems that justice
Has not been served, or dodged
Or avoided somehow by what later
seems to be carelessness
or incompetence. These kinds of
results hurt the publics
faith in Bermuda's legal
system.
