KENKASSIE Lynch, who is currently serving 75-years’ imprisonment for the murder of a mechanic in Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara, has moved to the Court of Appeal seeking to have his conviction and sentence overturned.
In May 2019, Lynch, 24, was sentenced by Justice Navindra Singh at the Demerara High Court before a mixed 12-member jury, with 15 witnesses testifying during the trial.
The indictment read that, on June 1, 2015, at Nelson Street, Mocha-Arcadia, EBD, Lynch murdered 23-year-old Terrence Lanferman.
Justice Singh started at a base of 60 years and then added 15 years for several aggravating factors, including the use of a gun to commit the act.
Lynch also implicated a cousin of his, Sedley Liverpool, called ‘Birdman’. Liverpool was later charged for Lanferman’s murder and is currently awaiting trial at the High Court.
The Guyana Chronicle understands that the shooting stemmed from a feud between Birdman and Lanferman, but Lynch reportedly admitted that he alone carried out the shooting.
On the day in question, Lynch allegedly returned to Mocha and met his cousin, Liverpool. Lynch then proceeded to Nelson Street in the same community, to conduct surveillance on Lanferman’s house, after which he returned to ‘Birdman’s’ residence around 19:00 hours; Liverpool then allegedly gave Lynch a handgun.
The two later returned to Nelson Street on a ‘CG’ motorcycle. While Liverpool waited in a nearby street, Lynch reportedly went to Lanferman’s residence and knocked on the front door. Lanferman opened his door and was confronted by the gunman.
Lynch’s attorney had moved to the Appeal Court to overturn his client’s conviction and sentencing.
The attorney is claiming that the trial judge erred in law when he admitted into evidence the caution statement given by Lynch to the police.
Additionally, another ground for the appeal was the view that the trial judge failed to put Lynch’s defence adequately to the jury.