HEARING of the appeal of Mark Assing, called ‘Jessie, who was sentenced to 66 years’ imprisonment for murder, commenced on Wednesday at the Court of Appeal in Kingston, before Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud.

Assing is appealing his conviction and sentence for the murder of Abiola Eadie, called ‘Abbie’on June 20, 2012 at McDoom, East Bank Demerara.

In 2014, Assing, 48, was sentenced by Justice Navindra Singh at the Demerara High Court after he was found guilty of murdering Eadie by a 12-member jury. He was jailed for a minimum of 60 years for the murder, with the possibility of parole after serving 30 years.
According to reports, during an argument between Assing and Eadie, the former had pulled out a gun and pointed it at one Martin, son of the deceased Eadie. Eadie was reportedly standing in front of her son Martin when the accused allegedly fired the fatal shot that hit her in the mouth.

The woman succumbed to her injuries at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), 12 days after the incident.

When hearing of the appeal commenced on Wednesday, defence attorney Glen Hanoman argued that trial judge Navindra Singh had failed to adequately put his client’s defence to the jury for consideration. Additionally, Khan stressed that the trial judge had failed to adequately direct the jury on the defence of provocation.

The state is being represented by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Diana Kaulesar-O’Brien.
Hearing of the appeal with continue on January 23, 2020.