Appeal Court reduces time before parole for killer of UWI lecturer
Published:Friday | February 18, 2022 | 1:59 PM
Kelvin Downer, the co-convict in the murder of University of the West Indies lecturer, Dr Peter Vogel is now likely to leave prison five years earlier than expected.
Downer had appealed the September 2019 sentence of 25 years in prison with an order that he must serve 15 years before he becomes eligible for parole.
According to Downer, in handing down sentence, the trial judge Evon Brown did not take into account the nine years he spent in custody awaiting trial.
Downer had also appealed the conviction, but later abandoned that application.
This morning, the Appeal Court in acknowledging the withdrawal of the appeal against the conviction, affirmed the guilty verdict, but set aside the order for 15 years before parole.
The Appeal Court judges said Downer was instead being credited five out of the nine years he spent in custody and should only spend 10 years in prison before he may be released on parole.
The sentence is recorded to have started on September 29, 2017 which means, Downer, will be eligible for parole in 2027.
His girlfriend, Yanika Scott, who was also convicted for the murder of the university lecturer did not appeal.
She too was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to serve 15 years in prison before she becomes eligible for parole.
As a result, she is not likely to leave prison before 2032.
READ: Couple sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder of UWI lecturer
During the three-week trial in 2017, prosecutors Maxine Jackson and Kelly-Ann Francis led evidence that Vogel's body was found inside the study room at his home in College Commons, St Andrew in July 2007 by his then six-year-old son, Daniel.
Vogel, a Swiss national, was found with his hands tied behind his back, his feet bound at the ankles and a piece of cloth tied around his mouth.
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