-says it is ‘unduly severe’

ALLAN Sim, who was recently sentenced to 60 years imprisonment for the murder of his ‘child-mother’ has now moved to the Appeal Court to have his conviction and sentence overturned.

Earlier this month, Sim, called “Cayenne”, of Paradise Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara (ECD), was found guilty of the capital offence by a 12-member jury at the Demerara High Court and was sentenced by Justice Navindra Singh.

Justice Singh sentenced the former taxi driver to 60 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after serving 40 years for killing Melissa Skeete, called Lisa, a Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) dispatcher, on November 23, 2015.

In his grounds of appeal, Sim is contending that the trial Judge erred in law and that the sentence was unduly severe.
He is also contending that the trial Judge admitted evidence that was prejudicial to a fair trial.

According to reports, Sim and Skeete, shared two kids and on the day in question, at about 15:00 hours, he picked her up from work in his motorcar. However, about 30 minutes later, she was found on Carmichael Street, bleeding profusely from several stab wounds about her body. She was rushed to the GPHC, but died while receiving treatment.
During the course of an investigation, Sim was arrested, and, under caution, reportedly admitted committing the offence. His car was found five days later, with the passenger seat already refurbished.

To his credit, he’d turned himself in to the police at the Alberttown Police Station on November 25, 2015, after news surfaced that he had killed Skeete.
The woman was stabbed no less than eight times about the body, before being left on the roadway.

The post-mortem revealed that it was a single stab wound to her stomach that was largely responsible for her death.
Skeete’s relatives alleged that the two had shared an “on-and-off” relationship for more than 10 years, although he was married. Further, they claimed that he was controlling and abusive.