The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE Court of Appeal yesterday affirmed the 55-year prison sentence of Kofhe Goodman, the man convicted of the murder of 11-year-old Marco Archer, after ruling his appeal had no “prospects of success”.

Archer, a student at Columbus Primary School, went missing from Brougham Street on September 23, 2011, and was found dead days later in bushes behind an apartment complex on Yorkshire Drive near to where Goodman lived.

It is believed that he died from blunt force trauma to his head.

The boy was reported missing by his family after failing to return home from a neighbourhood store where he went to purchase candy. His family begged for help in ensuring that he was returned home safely.

In August 2013, Goodman, who is also known as Edwardo Ferguson, was convicted of the 2011 murder.

When he first appealed his conviction, it was set aside and a retrial was ordered. Goodman was again convicted of Archer’s murder on May 30, 2017 and was sentenced to 55 years a year later on May 7, 2018.

Less than 10 days later, Goodman attempted to appeal his conviction; however, the notice of appeal was not received by the court until November 26, 2018. Goodman then filed an application for an extension of time to appeal his conviction and sentence on the grounds that “the conduct of the prosecution and defence counsel gave rise to a flaw in the trial process”.

He further argued that the conduct of the trial judge failed to ensure the fairness of the trial, and contended that evidence was wrongly admitted and/or rejected during the proceedings.

Nonetheless, yesterday Justices Sir Michael Barnett, Jon Isaacs and Roy Jones affirmed his conviction and sentence after refusing his application for an extension of time.

In their judgement, delivered by Sir Michael, the panel concluded the 55-year sentence was not “unreasonable” in view of the circumstances of the case.

“The proposed appeal has no prospects of success,” he stated. “There is simply no credible basis for accepting that the intended appellant’s counsel did not take adequate or proper instructions or gave him bad advice. The intended appellant cannot show that he was prejudiced in any way by the decisions made by his counsel on his behalf.”

Sir Michael also said the appellate panel of justices disagreed with Goodman’s second ground of appeal.

“As to the conduct of prosecuting counsel, having read the transcript of the trial in its entirety there is no merit to the criticism by the intended appellant. The intended appellant has not identified any evidence which was wrongly admitted and has identified no error in principle by the trial judge.

“The term of 55 years is not unreasonable having regard to the particular circumstances of this case and the established guidelines with respect to murder set out in the decision of Larry Raymond Jones and the court will not interfere.”