The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A BLIND man awaiting resentencing for murder may have a chance of regaining his sight if arrangements can be made with health officials to have surgery performed.

Duke Smith, who was convicted in 1977 of the fatal stabbing of Ranwell Dorsett with whom he lived, is before Senior Justice Jon Isaacs for resentencing as a result of a 1994 Privy Council ruling.

Dr Heastings Johnson, the physician at Her Majesty’s Prisons, told the judge that Smith may have a small chance of being able to see again, but this is dependent on whether the loss of sight was due to cataracts or long-term glaucoma.

A cataract is a clouding of the lens inside the eye which leads to a decrease in vision while glaucoma is a condition that causes damage to the eye’s optic nerve and gets worse over time. The latter is often associated with a buildup of pressure inside the eye.

Last week, a probation officer noted in his report to the judge that Smith went completely blind in recent months and has been behind bars for 38 years.

In confirming Smith’s blindness yesterday, Dr Johnson said he had made a recommendation that the convict be examined by a private ophthalmologist and transferred to a geriatrics unit or be released from prison into the care of his family.

He noted that transferring Smith to the geriatrics ward at the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre could happen, but would place a further burden on the facility.

Given that surgeries are not performed at the prison, Justice Isaacs gave Dr Johnson the undertaking of finding out from the Public Hospital Authority where accommodations could be made for Smith to get surgery, notwithstanding other inmate patients that require medical attention for other issues.

The judge expects a report when the resentencing proceedings resume on July 25.

Before adjourning the proceedings, the judge asked Smith’s lawyer Calvin Seymour if there are any relatives that could take in the 62-year-old. Mr Seymour said his client had no one to support him. Justice Isaacs instructed Mr Seymour to consult with the Department of Social Services and other agencies to see if they could assist Smith if he is released from jail.

Mr Seymour explained that Smith came from Cat Island to Nassau at the age of 15, six years before the incident in question.

Smith is up for resentencing as a result of an earlier Privy Council ruling.

That ruling came in the case of Pratt and Morgan vs the Attorney General of Jamaica, in which a man on death row for more than five years had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. The Privy Council ruled that excessive delays on death row amounted to inhumane or degrading treatment.