The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN seeking to challenge the sentence he received after he was convicted of having sex with a minor five years ago will receive a court-appointed lawyer for his appeal application.

Prosecutors say Samuel Kelly, Jr, attempted to have sex with a 16-year-old dependent between May 9 and 14 of 2016. They also said he had sex with the girl on several occasions between July 2014 and May 8, 2016.

Although he pleaded not guilty to attempted unlawful sexual intercourse with a dependent and unlawful sexual intercourse with a dependent when he was made to answer to the charges, at the end of his trial, he was convicted of the offences and remanded to prison.

Kelly Jr later filed an application to appeal his punishment in the Court of Appeal.

When he appeared before Justices Jon Isaacs, Carolita Bethell and Maureen Crane-Scott during a virtual hearing, he told them he did not have an attorney and could not afford one.

As a result, the panel said they would accede to his request and appoint him counsel at the public's expense to aid him in contesting his sentence.

“The court being of the view that you require such legal assistance and that you lack the wherewithal to afford one, the court directs that counsel be appointed for you,” Justice Isaacs said.

“Your lawyer will be advised that because your appeal is out of time, in other words you did not file your appeal within the time required by the statutes, an application for an extension of time within which to appeal will have to be made. Once that is done, the court will hear that application and if it grants leave to appeal out of time, the court will then go on and consider your actual appeal.”

The matter was adjourned to September 28 for mention.

Meanwhile, Basil Cartwright was also scheduled to appear before the appellate panel of justices to appeal the three-year indecent assault sentence imposed on him by a magistrate.

However, his attorney, Paco Deal, informed the panel that his client was currently in quarantine at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

Justice Isaacs said since Mr Deal was not given instructions to proceed with the hearing in the absence of his client, the panel would adjourn the matter to October 18.