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The Supreme Court of British Guiana, also known as the Court of Criminal Appeal, was constituted by Chief Justice Frank Holder with Justices Ron Phillips and J A Luckhoo.
The hearing lasted six days and ended on January 17, 1959, with the appeal being dismissed for want of merit.
On the morning of the execution at the Georgetown Prison, a large crowd gathered on D’Urban Street outside the prison to hear the dropping of the trap door at 8:00 o’clock, symbolizing that the ‘bad-man’ had gone. At the same time, Radio Demerara, the local radio station, was playing the familiar song, ‘Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley… Hang Down Your Head And Cry’.
At the hearing of the appeal, Lashley was represented by Attorney-at-Law, Mr Carlton Weithers, while Solicitor General, Mr. G M Farnum appeared for the Crown.
The appellant, Lashley, had appealed against his conviction and sentence on several grounds, inter alia, that the trial judge, in his summing up, did not adequately direct the jury on the issues of manslaughter and insanity, and had omitted to direct them on self defence.
Chief Justice Holder, who delivered the judgment for the Appellate Court, said: “The evidence for the prosecution was to the effect that at about 3:30pm on June 22, 1958, the deceased, Leslie Hannibal, a police constable in uniform, was on beat duty in James Street, Albouystown, Georgetown, when the appellant, riding a bicycle along the street, collided with a hydrant at the side of the street.
“On hearing the sound of the collision, Hannibal walked in the direction of the appellant, when the appellant, who appeared to be angry, was heard to say in a loud tone of voice to Hannibal: ‘Why you come across me?’ Hannibal then took out his baton and told the appellant that he was going to take him to the police station. Police constable Martin, who was off-duty and was then cycling along James Street, came up to the scene, and as the appellant was observed to put his hand in his pocket, suggested to Hannibal that the appellant be searched. The appellant ran into a nearby yard, leaving his cycle. Hannibal, accompanied by Martin, then took the appellant’s bicycle to the Ruimveldt Police Station where he made a report and lodged the bicycle, the officer-in-charge of that station informing Hannibal that the appellant would be proceeded against by way of summons.
“About twenty minutes later, after Hannibal had left for the police station with the appellant’s bicycle,” Justice Holder said, “the appellant returned to James Street, carrying a piece of greenheart wood in his hand, and on inquiring for his bicycle, was told by someone that it had been taken to the police station. He appeared to be annoyed and said that he was going for his bicycle. There was evidence that shortly thereafter at about 3 to 4 pm, the appellant was seen in the gallery of his house at La Penitence, sharpening a cutlass and heard saying that he must kill, and when he was finished, it would be like the Rattan murder case, and that after sharpening the cutlass, he placed it in a rice bag and left his home carrying the bag and cutlass.”
Continuing with his judgment, Justice Holder said that after lodging the appellant’s bicycle at the Ruimveldt Police Station, Hannibal returned to his beat on James Street, where he was locked in conversation with some other persons around 5pm when the appellant was seen coming towards him carrying a folded rice bag.
According to Justice Holder, “Hannibal had a cloak in his left hand and a baton in his right hand, and told the appellant that he was wanted at the station,” but the appellant’s response was to take out a cutlass from the rice bag and say to Hannibal: “Boy, don’t make your eyes pass me.” With that, the Chief Justice said, “the appellant struck Hannibal a blow on the back with the cutlass. Hannibal ran east in James Street, pursued by the appellant with upraised cutlass. Hannibal stumbled and fell into a gutter and the appellant proceeded to chop Hannibal with the cutlass while Hannibal lay in the gutter with his right hand upraised to avoid being cut on the face.
“The appellant inflicted several injuries with the cutlass on Hannibal, and when Police Constable Karim, who was on patrol in Hunter Street, came up to the scene while the appellant was still chopping Hannibal who was lying in the gutter, the appellant raised the cutlass at Karim and ran towards him. Karim sought refuge in a yard in Hunter Street. Corporal of Police Fordyce, who was at the corner of James and Albert Streets, Albouystown, armed himself with a piece of aluminum piping and went towards the scene. He saw the appellant running east on the ‘punt-trench dam’ nearby with a cutlass in his left hand and a rice bag in his right. Fordyce pursued the appellant, and on reaching him, told him to drop the cutlass, and that he was going to arrest him. The appellant had his cutlass upraised and told Fordyce: ‘I just f*** up yuh mattee.’ Fordyce tried to arrest the appellant and struggled with him. In the course of the struggle, Fordyce struck the appellant a blow on the shoulder with the piece of aluminum piping. They fell into the trench, and Fordyce had to hold the appellant under the water before he succeeded in subduing him.”
After his arrest, the judge said, Lashley was at 5:45pm that day examined by the Prison Surgeon, Dr. Jaikaran, who found no evidence of injury to him.
Hannibal, on the other hand, who had several wounds on the left arm and on the body, was taken in an unconscious condition to the PHG (Public Hospital, Georgetown), where he was admitted a patient and died about five minutes later from shock and haemorrhage.
According to the Chief Justice, Lashley, in an unsworn statement from the dock, claimed that the police were always after him, and that they had attacked him on the day in question and beaten to a state of unconsciousnesss. He said it was only after regaining consciousness that he learnt he had killed Hannibal.
He was quoted as saying, among other things:
“On the day in question, I was on my way to cut grass for my donkeys. I did not use any threat to anyone, nor swear to kill anyone. On my way to cut the grass, which I had intended to cut in Princess Street, I saw Hannibal and another policeman approaching me. As he approached me, he pulled out his staff and said, ‘You bitch you, we come to take you, dead or alive,’ and he started to beat me. I fell down. While I was in the yard, I heard someone say, ‘You ran away this morning; you can’ run now. I am going to kill you.’ He was still beating me; I was still on he ground. My mind became blank; I do not know what happened next.
“It was not until the following morning, when I found myself at the Ruimveldt Police Station, that I was told that I had killed Hannibal. I did not intend to harm Hannibal; I do not know what came over my mind. From since I heard that I killed Hannibal until now, I am grieved and distressed. I am very sorry for the life I have taken; I do not know why the police always molest me. The police always find excuse to arrest me.”
After dealing with all the grounds by the appellant’s counsel, the Appellate Court dismissed the appeal and affirmed the conviction and sentence.
