[UPDATED] Death sentence, conviction for killing child, 4, overturned

MARLON KING has successfully argued an appeal against his conviction for the brutal murder of his four-year-old stepdaughter Amy Emily Annamunthodo in 2006.

A three-member Court of Appeal panel on Tuesday, found several faults with his trial judge’s handling of his case in 2012.

A retrial is being considered and a decision will be given on July 29 as the judges await further submissions and information from the attorneys representing King and the State on the issue.

King was sentenced to hang for Annamunthodo’s murder after he was convicted by a jury following six days of directions by then Justice Anthony Carmona.

Annamunthodo was tortured and beaten to death, burned with cigarettes, hung from her hair and beaten until her heart ruptured. King was charged with killing the child – who weighed 33 pounds and was unable to speak properly and under-developed – on May 15, 2006 at his home at Ste Madeleine Road, Marabella.

King was in a common-law relationship with Annamunthodo’s mother, Anita.

Medical evidence was led that Amy was burnt with cigarettes on her vagina, inner thigh and forearm an hour before she died. She suffered multiple internal and external injuries throughout her body, including a broken rib and bruised organs.

Justices of Appeal Alice Yorke-Soo Hon, Mark Mohammed and Malcolm Holdip presided over King’s appeal and in a joint decision, quashed his conviction and the death sentence.

At Tuesday’s hearing, they invited submissions on a retrial at a virtual hearing King attended from the Port of Spain prison.

He was represented by attorneys Peter Carter and public defender Delicia Helwig-Robertson. The State was represented by special prosecutor, Travers Sinanan.

Sinanan said while the doctors who testified at the trial would still be available, he would have to make inquiries on the main civilian witnesses' availability.

Carter spoke of the length of time it took for matters to be retried, while pointing out that King has been in the condemned section of the prison for nine years.

In his submissions at the hearing of the appeal in January, Carter had argued that the judge erred significantly when he admitted prejudicial evidence from his client’s ex-wife Lou Ann Davis and his friend and neighbour, Anthony Rocke, whom he accused of actually being responsible for the child’s injuries.

Rocke was accused of lying about having witnessed the crime and his act was done in revenge as he had accused Anita of stealing his sim card from his mobile phone.

Davis, who was also the mother of King’s two children, had testified about repeated beatings by King before she managed to escape. She also testified that he forced her to perform oral sex on him while waking a one-year-old female relative to watch. She further claimed King told her he would lend out his house to his friends to have sex.

Rocke testified to seeing King punching Amy 20-30 times while she hung from a cloth tied to her hair and attached to a door ledge. She had on underwear and was gagged.

Of Davis’ claim that King rented out his home for others to have sex, Carter said that evidence was presented in a distorted fashion and although it appeared to have been edited in its presentation to the jury, by trying to “take the sting out of it” the judge allowed it to become contaminated and it should not have been allowed to go to the jury.

He said the evidence was hearsay and should not have been allowed since it was used to find reprehensible conduct on King’s part.

Carter also accused Carmona of usurping the function of the jury in his directions on the issue of credibility and said his review of the weaknesses of the State’s case was deficient.

Of the grounds of appeal advanced by King, the judges said they found merit in four parts and the trial judge should have exercised “great care and caution” when treating with the evidence of the prosecution’s main witnesses.

They also said Carmona, as gatekeeper, should have exercised his power to edit or exclude gravely prejudicial evidence advanced in the case which fatally compromised the fairness of King’s trial.

In their analysis, the judges said while Carmona did identify some of the weaknesses in the prosecution’s case to the jury, in their opinion his review was deficient as it related to Davis and Rocke’s evidence.

“We are not satisfied that the jury, properly directed, would, without doubt, have convicted the appellant upon a consideration of the whole of the admissible evidence,” was the Court of Appeal’s findings.

At the trial, Dr Chris Pulchan, who examined the child at the San Fernando General Hospital, said she arrived dead and rigor mortis had already set in.

Pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes listed multiple extensive internal and external injuries, including fractured ribs, a busted lip, bruising and bleeding to her head and organs, and cigarette burns about her body, including her genitals.

He said the multiple injuries would have been inflicted on the child within an hour or two before death. He said the injuries to her heart would have resulted in her death in a minimum of 15 minutes but it was likely that she died much sooner.

Des Vignes found burst water blisters on the right side of the lip of the vagina, on the inside of the upper left thigh and the upper right thigh which most likely resulted from burns inflicted within an hour of her death. He said there were also roughly rounded cigarette burns on her lower right forearm and five roundish burns on the chest and upper belly.

This story was originally published with the title "Death sentence quashed, conviction for killing child overturned" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

MARLON KING has successfully argued his appeal against conviction for the murder of his four-year-old stepdaughter Amy Emily Annamunthodo.

A three-member Court of Appeal panel on Tuesday found several faults with the trial judge’s handling of King's case in 2012.

A retrial is being considered and a decision will be given on July 29, as the judges await further submissions and information from the attorneys representing King and the State.

King was sentenced to hang for Annamunthodo’s murder after being convicted by a jury after six days of directions by then High Court judge Anthony Carmona.

Annamunthodo was burnt with cigarettes, hung from her hair and beaten until her heart ruptured. King was charged with killing the child on May 15, 2006 at his home at Ste Madeleine Road, Marabella.

King was in a common-law relationship with Annamunthodo’s mother Anita.

Medical evidence was led that Amy was burnt with cigarettes on her vagina, inner thigh and forearm an hour before she died. She suffered multiple internal and external injuries throughout her body, including a broken rib and bruised organs.

Justices of Appeal Alice Yorke-Soo Hon, Mark Mohammed and Malcolm Holdip presided over King’s appeal and in a joint decision, quashed his conviction and death sentence.

At Tuesday’s hearing, they invited submissions on a retrial at a virtual hearing King attended from the Port of Spain prison.

He was represented by attorneys Peter Carter and public defender Delicia Helwig-Robertson. The State was represented by special prosecutor, Travers Sinanan.

Sinanan said while the doctors who testified at the trial would still be available, he would have to make inquiries about the main civilian witnesses's availability.

Carter spoke of the length of time it took for matters to be retried, while pointing out that King has been in the condemned section of the prison for nine years.