July 7
BARBADOS:
Catholic Church wants Govt to abolish the death penalty
The Catholic Church is calling on the Mia Mottley-led Government to abolish the
death penalty, arguing it is not justified under any circumstance.
In a statement of support for a ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ),
which declared the mandatory death sentence for a conviction of murder as
unconstitutional and a violation of the right to life, the church said not even
a person convicted of murder deserved to be killed.
"The CCJ's decision is a step in the right direction but does not remove the
death penalty from the laws in Barbados, so there is still some work to be
done," Apostolic Administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgetown,
Archbishop Jason Gordon said in the statement.
"Every life is a precious gift from God. We are all created in the image and
likeness of God and thus have inherent dignity. The taking of 1 life does not
therefore justify the taking of another," he added.
This has been longstanding position of the archbishop, who has preached a
restorative justice approach to crime and violence, which focuses on holding
the offender accountable in a more meaningful way and helping to achieve a
sense of healing for both victims and the community.
The approach embraces socialization, rehabilitation and reconciliation, rather
than retribution and vengeance.
"To reject capital punishment is not to make light of the loss of loved ones
and the violation of human dignity and rights experienced by victims of crime,"
Gordon, the archbishop of Port of Spain, said.
"The pastoral care of the church is directed first towards the comfort and
assistance of these victims. The compassion and love shown by the church and
society to victims and the support given to their families to help them cope
with a tragic loss continues to be vital. "Prayer, love and counselling can
help grieving families reach a place of peace and, hopefully, healing," he
said.
The CCJ, this country's highest court, made the ruling based on 2 unrelated
death penalty cases from Barbados.
The cases, Jabari Sensimania Nervais v The Queen, and Dwayne Omar Severin v The
Queen, were consolidated because both appeals challenged the murder convictions
of each of the men and the constitutionality of the mandatory death sentence
for murder.
The court stated that a section of the Offences Against the Person Act was
unconstitutional because it provided for a mandatory sentence of death, but
dismissed the appeals against the men's convictions.
Before examining the issues raised by the appeal, the regional court considered
the state of the mandatory death penalty in Barbados for murder and found that
it was indisputable that the nation, through its actions, had acknowledged that
it had an obligation to remove such mandatory sentence under Section 2 of the
Offences Against the Person Act.
The court also found that Barbados had also given undertakings to the CCJ and
the Inter American Court of Human Rights to rectify the mandatory sentence,
which was reflected in the Barbados Privy Council's consistent commutation of
the mandatory death penalty.
(source: Barbados Today)
AUSTRALIA:
Grisly tales from the gallows revealed
When Caroline Overington set out on a 5-year project to research the potential
injustice that saw Louisa Collins hanged for murder after an unprecedented 4
trials she felt "blessed" that so much material from the 1880s had been
preserved.
Louisa Collins was the last woman hanged in New South Wales.
Louisa's case - brought after arsenic poisoning was alleged in the deaths of
her 1st and 2nd husbands - was incredibly unusual and became a catalyst for the
campaign for women's rights in Australia, but was it fair?
Despite the fact that there "was no murder weapon, there was no real motive,
there were no witnesses", the odds were stacked against the mother of 10, who
was given a barrister "who became the 1st barrister in NSW to be struck from
the role for incompetence," says Overington.
3 juries failed to convict, but a 4th found her guilty and Collins died on
January 8, 1889 in a botched hanging that nearly tore her head off, leaving a
gaping wound in her throat.
Her horrific end was far from unusual for the times though.
Robert Rice Howard - known as Nosey Bob because he had no nose - was the
hangman at Louisa Collins' execution.
"Hanging is a terrible way to die and there were multiple accounts of
executions that went terribly wrong across New South Wales and across the other
states," Overington says.
"It's not a precise science. You have to do a lot of mathematics, if you will,
about the length of the rope, the height of the gallows, the weight of the
body, and it???s not precise, you can't predict how a body will react, whether
the neck will break, whether the flesh will tear.
"Louisa's case was unusual in that she was the 1st woman and the last woman to
be hanged at the Darlinghurst jail (in Sydney), and they really didn't have
much of an idea how to deal with a woman whose body is different.
"They had in mind that if she was hysterical - because the idea was that she
might be hysterical - they could perhaps strap her to a chair and hang (her on)
the chair.
"To our mind today (it's) completely barbaric. In my view it was barbaric then
too. I mean she died a terrible death. They didn't see it that way because they
saw it as confessing your sins and being sent back to your maker, but it must
have been terrifying."
In the following extract from Last Woman Hanged, Overington describes another
brutal death at the hands of the authorities that shocked even the far less
delicate sensibilities of spectators of the time.
BOOK EXTRACT:
Capital punishment had, regardless of gender, been the standard response to the
crime of murder since the arrival of the First Fleet. The preferred method was
hanging, which was for years done before crowds of enthusiastic onlookers, and
often with startling ineptitude. Take, for an example, the 1st public hanging
in the colony of South Australia. Given it was the first, mistakes were bound
to happen - but still. The year was 1838, and the condemned man's name was
Michael Magee. He was 24 years old and had been brought to the court in
clanking irons, accused of firing a shot at the local sheriff, Mr Samuel Smart.
The shot missed, leaving nothing but a gunpowder graze on Mr Smart's cheek -
but the judge decided that Magee should hang.
3 immediate problems arose.
First, Magee was a Roman Catholic and would therefore need to see a priest
before he died, but there seems to have been no Catholic priest in the colony
of South Australia in 1838. The judiciary pondered this problem for a day or so
before deciding that a local tradesman - fellmonger or blacksmith, the record
does not say - would have to do (Magee reportedly agreed to this arrangement,
not, one supposes, that he had much choice).
The 2nd problem was more serious: besides having no Catholic priest, the colony
had no executioner.
Again, the judiciary pondered. The sheriff's name was mentioned, but given he
had also been the intended victim of Magee's poorly timed shot, this was
considered 'unseemly' and so the job was put to tender.
Who, now, would take 5 pounds to execute Michael Magee?
Nobody came forward.
Who now will take 10 pounds to execute this man?
Still no takers.
By the day of the hanging - it was a Wednesday - all of Adelaide was agog with
curiosity. Would the execution go ahead and, if so, who would be the hangman?
Everyone wanted to know and so, in the hours immediately after sunrise, at
least 1000 people - women and children included - rose from their beds and
began to make their way across fields to the hanging place to see what might
happen.
Officials had decided that Magee should hang from a tree on the banks of the
Torrens River. The tree was chosen both because it had a thick, horizontal
bough over which the noose could be thrown, and because it was the only such
tree on government land.
Perhaps because of the pretty location, many people had decided to bring
picnics, and before long the riverbank was filled with spectators. Then,
shortly after nine a.m., the mood turned serious: through the trees, people
could see a procession leaving the distant gaol. (It wasn't really a gaol; it
was more a timber shed. A proper gaol wouldn't be built for a year, and it
would be run for decades by a man so fat that when he died his corpse would
have to be carried out through a window.)
The procession comprised mounted police and a cart led by 2 horses, 1 in front
of the other. Upon the cart sat a timber coffin - and upon the coffin sat
Magee. If that were not bad enough, also sitting on the coffin was the hangman.
Who was he? Well, it was hard to be sure. To keep his identity a secret, the
hangman had stuffed his clothes with padding, so he looked like he had a huge
hump, and he covered his face with a horrible hand-made mask painted white
around the eyes. The closer the hangman got to the crowds on the riverbank, the
more enormous and repulsive he seemed. Women gasped and children screamed, the
'thrill of horror creeping through their veins.'
In an effort to keep people from crowding too close to the hanging tree, the
judiciary had set up a temporary enclosure, like a sheep pen, around its base.
They had also saddled an extra horse so the hangman could make a quick getaway
after the job was done.
With Magee's cart now parked inside the pen, the execution was, as they say,
good to go. The noose was placed over Magee's head and a cap was drawn over his
face. Prayers were concluded. A motion was made that all was ready and then,
after 'a whip or 2 of the leading horse', the cart upon which Magee still sat
was drawn away. Many in the crowd shut their eyes, as well they might, because
'here commenced one of the most frightful and appalling sights that ever
perhaps will be again witnessed in the colony'. Either the horse was moving too
slowly or else the hangman had bungled the noose, but instead of having his
neck instantly broken, Magee started to slide gently off the coffin until he
was hanging by his throat in the air, screaming, 'Oh God! Oh Christ! Save me!'
Now it was time for men to gasp. The hangman - still in his mask and lumpy
costume - got on the saddled horse and bolted.
'Fetch him back!' the crowd cried, so mounted police took off at full speed.
Magee, meanwhile, was uttering the same piercing cries: 'Lord save me! Christ
have mercy upon me!' Nobody knew what to do. Some cried, 'Cut him down!' Others
urged the marines to shoot Magee dead with their muskets to at least put an end
to his misery, and all the while, Magee's hands were up the rope as he madly
tried to save himself, while his body twisted 'like a joint of meat before the
fire'.
Finally, the hangman was brought back. Inspiration had struck and, with a
'fiendish leap', he threw himself upon Magee's body and proceeded to hang
himself from the condemned man's legs, pulling him toward the ground until
Magee could no longer cling to the rope and began to suffocate. By some counts,
it took 13 long minutes for Magee to die this way. Many in the crowd were
horrified. Others waited for the body to be cut down and then carried on with
their picnic.
(source: The Daily Telegraph)---- This is an edited extract from Last Woman
Hanged by Caroline Overington, published by HarperCollins)
JAPAN:
Letters of executed cult members reflect regret, desire to live
etters sent from prison by some of the executed AUM Shinrikyo doomsday cult
members expressed regret for committing heinous crimes and a wish to atone.
But their letters sent to civic groups also included those calling for
abolition of capital punishment and requests for amnesty, showing their
continued hopes to live even well over 10 years after their death sentences
were finalized.
Cult founder Shoko Asahara, who was convicted of numerous murders including the
1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, and 6 other former senior
members were executed Friday.
Among them, Kiyohide Hayakawa, 68, wrote words of remorse and showed discontent
with Asahara in his letters.
Hayakawa was responsible for the murder of lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto, who had
been helping parents seeking to free their children of the cult's control, and
his wife and 1-year-old son in 1989 and construction of nerve gas production
facilities among other crimes.
"My feelings of apology toward the victims and their families have never
weakened in the 23 years since everything came to light," said Hayakawa, who
was arrested in 1995 and sentenced to death in 2009.
"At the time, I thought I was fighting for truth and salvation, but all I got
from resorting to terrorism was pain and sorrow," he wrote in one of his
letters sent to a civic group.
"We the followers of Asahara can talk about why we followed his instructions,
but only he can reveal why he ordered those crimes."
"If (the executions) are carried out, 'the correct answer' will never be known.
I want to hear his thoughts before I die."
Tomomitsu Niimi, 54, who was also hanged Friday for the killing of Sakamoto and
the nerve gas attacks in central Japan in 1994 and Tokyo in 1995 as well as
several other counts of murder, expressed a desire to atone for his crimes.
In describing his life in prison in one of his letters, Niimi said, "I am
following the rules and am careful not to kill even a single bug. There is no
one here to order killings, and all I think about is expiating my sins."
Niimi's testimony in court had suggested he was still a follower of the cult,
in contrast to Hayakawa, who said after his arrest that he no longer believed
in Asahara. Niimi had said his crimes were "acts of salvation."
"No matter how wicked a man is, living and atoning for his sins is an act full
of benevolence," he had wrote in a letter seeking amnesty.
"I would like to hand down stories about what happened and live on to atone for
my sins."
(source: The Mainichi)
TAIWAN:
Chen Chu calls for prudence over practice of death penalty in Taiwan----Debate
on capital punishment has been re-ignited and is now an election issue after a
number of brutal murders occurred over the past 2 months
Whether or not the Taiwanese authorities should execute those who are sentenced
to death has been hotly debated over the past couple of months, due partly to a
number of brutal murders that occurred during May and June. Now the death
penalty even looks to become an election issue leading up to November.
Asked to comment on the fact that there have not been any executions in Taiwan
for more than 2 years, Chen Chu, secretary-general to the Presidential Office
and a key member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said
Saturday the authorities remain prudent in regards to the issue of capital
punishment.
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is exercising prudence over the issue, said Chen
Saturday morning at a farmers' market held at the Presidential Office. "In
terms of carrying out the death penalty, it requires a broad societal
consensus."
"After all, we all only live once," added Chen, even though some of her party
members seem to hold a different view. A DDP member suggested to President Tsai
Ing-wen during a party committee this week that the government should impose
the death penalty, as he believes that it accords with the greater sentiment of
the Taiwanese people, reported Central News Agency.
Earlier polls show that about 80 % of the Taiwanese people support the death
penalty. However, when law stipulates a punishment of life imprisonment for who
commit serious crimes, without the possibility for parole, the percentage of
those in support of the death penalty shrinks to lower than 50 %.
According to MOJ, there are currently 43 people on death row in Taiwan. After
the execution of Cheng Chieh, who randomly attacked passengers on the Taipei
Metro in May 2014, killing 4 people and injuring dozens, was executed in May
2016, the ministry, under the Tsai administration has not signed any further
execution orders.
Chen Ming-tang, MOJ's deputy minister, told United Daily News that the ministry
will neither abolish nor completely refrain from exercising capital punishment.
But it will make decision with utmost prudence, said Chen.
(source: Taiwan News)
NIGERIA:
Supreme Court affirms 3 Bakassi Boys' death penalty
The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the death penalty imposed on 3 members of
Bakassi Boys vigilante group in 2006.
The High Court of Abia State had, on February 26, 2006, sentenced the 3 men to
death for the murder of 2 persons which they were said to have apprehended for
an alleged crime.
A 5-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Dattijo Muhammad unanimously
ruled that the 3 men truly committed murder and deserved the death sentence
imposed on them.
Describing the Bakassi Boys as "a lawless group," Justice Amina Augie, who
delivered the judgment of the apex court, said, "the Bakassi Boys are nothing
but outlaws."
She said they were "lawless persons operating outside the law, who desecrate
the laws of the land in their unlawful and misguided quest to dispense justice
by killing alleged criminals."
The 3 men - Emmanuel Eze, Adiele Ndubuisi and Stanley Azuogu - had separately
approached the Court of Appeal challenging the judgment of the High Court.
But the Court of Appeal, in May 2010, dismissed their appeals and affirmed the
death penalty imposed on them.
They further appealed to the Supreme Court praying the apex court to substitute
the conviction on murder charge with a conviction on manslaughter, which would
have attracted custodial sentence instead of the death penalty.
They had premised their appeal on the grounds that they were incited to kill
the deceased by the Abia State Government.
But delivering the Supreme Court's separate lead judgments on each of the 3
appellants' appeals on Friday, Justice Augie said their line of defence,
anchored on the grounds of provocation, was baseless.
She held that in the absence of anything said or done by the deceased in the
presence of the Bakassi Boys making the assailants "to suddenly and temporarily
lose their passion or self-control," the defence anchored on provocation could
not fly.
While ruling on one of the appeals, she said, "The appellant admitted that the
Bakassi vigilante group, to which he belonged was an unlawful association that
dealt with alleged criminals with extreme measures which flagrantly breached
the provision of the law on fair hearing,"
She added, "Having desecrated the laws of the land with such relish and
reckless abandon, and been convicted for murder, the appellant is urging this
court to allow the appeal, set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal
delivered on May 5, 2010 and substitute his conviction on manslaughter, since
he was incited by a 3rd party.
"There are a few things that were wrong with that line of defence.
"First of all, it was more of implicating the Abia State Government in the
offence they have committed rather than a valid defence in law.
"Secondly, the learned trial judge, C.L Ubaraje, as he then was, debunked his
insinuation that the Abia State Government had a hand in the killing of the
deceased persons.
"Finally and more importantly, the defence of provocation to avail the
appellant, there must be something said or done by the deceased persons in his
presence which caused the appellant to suddenly and temporarily lose his
passion and self-control.
"In other words, the appellant said he was incited by the Abia State Government
to kill the two deceased persons who did not do or say anything to him to him
or other Bakassi boys before they were savagely killed cannot amount to
provocation and his attempt to convince this court otherwise failed woefully.
"The respondent (the prosecution - Abia State Government) is right.
"The appellant embarked on a futile journey of proving provocation which does
not arise in this case as the testimony of the prosecution witnesses confirmed
that the appellant and his cohorts committed the said charge with utmost
dispatch and babarity without any provocation or incitement.
"This appeal totally lacks merit and is dismissed."
(source: punchng.com)
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