The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

NEARLY a year after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for beating a detained man who eventually died as a result of the incident, a former policeman’s challenge to that conviction and sentence was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

However, Donovan Gardiner, who was convicted of the manslaughter of Desmond Key, will learn at a later date the reasons why the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal of conviction and 10-year sentence yesterday.

The former corporal appeared in the Court of Appeal with his attorney Wayne Munroe for the substantive hearing to appeal both the manslaughter conviction and sentencing.

However, in the near two hours that Mr Munroe argued that the medical notes in the case prior to Key’s death could not support the findings of the pathologist’s report, he was unable to convince Justices Anita Allen, Stanley John and Abdulai Conteh that Gardiner’s conviction should be quashed.

Mr Munroe, in addition to contending that the ground of appeal and the sentence given his client did not match with what the law stipulated in his case, also noted that the Crown conceded that sufficient direction was not given to the jury concerning his client’s character and that the judge in the case made a misdirection concerning manslaughter by negligence.

According to law, someone found guilty of that charge could serve up to five years in prison.

The judges, in response to these submissions, were of the view that the pathologist’s findings could stand because there was evidence outside of her findings to support her conclusion on the key cause of death – pancreatitis from blunt force trauma.

They, while acknowledging the points of good character and credibility, and the misdirection to the jury during the summation of the case, noted that five years was not a sufficient sentence in the case in question.

Case authorities were presented and shortly before noon, the judges decided – with notice that their reasons would be issued at a later date – that Gardiner’s appeal should be dismissed.

Gardiner’s conviction and sentence were affirmed.

Gardiner, a 39-year-old married father of two, stood trial in the Supreme Court last year for the January 19, 2008 death of Desmond Key, who died of pancreatitis at Princess Margaret Hospital.

Key had been in hospital for seven months after being beaten with a baseball bat in a holding cell at the Grove Police Station on June 17, 2007.

Gardiner stood accused of hitting the detainee in the head and side with the wooden bat.

On March 2, after two weeks of trial, a nine-member jury found him guilty of manslaughter.

Immediately after the 6-3 verdict was handed down, defence attorney Wayne Munroe indicated his intent to file a constitutional motion seeking to have the conviction quashed.

At a hearing on March 20, Mr Munroe argued that the trial had not been fair because the prosecution did not disclose Key’s complete medical records and other documents important to the defence.

He asked the judge to publicly declare that the prosecution had breached her March 2011 order to produce complete medical records and throw out the conviction.

However, Gardiner’s application to quash the conviction was thrown out by Justice Vera Watkins on the grounds that it was filed at the wrong time.

On June 28, 2012, Gardiner was sentenced to 10 years in prison, to run from the date of conviction.