Dear All
A man has admitted killing 19-year-old student Reamonn Gormley.
Having been arrested by Police, his lawyers have tried to get the Crown Office to accept a guilty plea of culpable homicide.
Rightly, the Crown Office have thrown that offer out, this is a murder case which needs to be tried as a murder case.
Daryn Maxwell, who is only 22, has admitted fatally stabbing the teenager in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire last February, during an attempted street robbery.
His co-accused Barry Smith, 19, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the Glasgow University psychology student.
Their trial is expected to start at the High Court in Glasgow later this year.
And all this being equal and a successful prosecution, they should face 20 years in prison.
During an appearance at the High Court in Glasgow, Maxwell pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of culpable homicide, hoping this would be accepted and also that he would get a reduction in sentence under the Criminal Procedures (Scotland) Act.
He admitted repeatedly striking Raemonn on the neck and body with a knife or similar instrument.
Advocate Depute Dorothy Bain QC, prosecuting, told the court:
"This plea is not accepted."
Judge Lord Matthews continued the case to a further preliminary hearing in August.
Mr Gormley was stabbed as he walked home from watching the Celtic v Aberdeen football match in a bar in his home town.
He died in Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride, soon after the attack.
More than 1,000 people took part in a march through the streets of Blantyre in February in memory of Mr Gormley.
By all accounts, Mr. Gormley had a bright future and also he done charity work, giving up his time to help others less fortunate than him.
The people responsible for his death are wicked beyond belief and serve a life sentence for this murder.
A stupid act committed by stupid people.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
2 comments:
Let’s hope the case is conducted in apple pie order, as no doubt the defence lawyers will be looking for every minor mistake so that they can later claim in the Supreme Court that the defendants article 6 rights under ECHR were breached and they did not get a fair trial. They can have the conviction quashed and Scottish tax payers can stump up for a retrial. And they say that the Supreme Court was supposed to save us money by not having to go to Strasbourg! I don’t suppose they factored in the costs of all these re-trials.
Dear Tris
In a sense the UK Supreme Court has done use a great service.
We now have a clear agenda in the justice portfolio.
Reform.
Although people will look at the add on cost and say this is a problem, it pales when compared to denial of a fair trial.
By fixing justice, we are preparing to be worthy for independence.
For some time, I am been arguing that the SNP need to produce the goods so that people can see how Scotland would operate as a free country.
Spell out in detail to obtain public confidence that our vision is the answer.
The justice problems need addressed and the political will must be put in place to do so.
Ecomonics alone won't win an independence debate.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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