ST KITTS: EXECUTION SET BACK

the execution of four condemned men, in St. Kitts and Nevis, was further delayed when a judge in St Lucia decided not to make a ruling on the case. Louis "Tooloo" Gardener, Sheldon "Hatcher" Isaac, Romeo "Buncum" Cannonier and Ruedeney ‘Denney’ Williams were scheduled to be executed by hanging in August, however, their lawyers made a request to allow them more time to file appeals against the death sentence a day before they were to be executed. The request effectively stopped the hangings, and should have been heard before a single judge at the Headquarters of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in St Lucia. However, the judge ordered that the request be heard before the Caribbean Court of Appeals, which would meet in St. Kitts on October 27. Also, lawyers announced that Cannonier will also appeal his death sentence for the murder of a police officer. Earlier this year, Justice Albert Redhead ordered the four men to be hanged for the murder of Gavin "Magilla" Gilbert of Saddler’s Village. They were sentenced on July 15, and their lawyers were given 14 days to file appropriate appeals. According to High Court administrators, appeals were not filed and plans were made to have the men executed, starting with Isaac. According to court documents, on the 20 July, 2004, Cannonier gunned down police officer, Delvin Nisbett, while he was walking to his girlfriend’s house in Dieppe Bay. Cannonier was tried and convicted for that murder. Justice Francis Belle sentenced Cannonier to death by hanging in January. While in prison, Cannonier sent a message to Louis Gardener to have Gilbert killed. Gardener enlisted the help of Sheldon "Hatcher" Isaac and Ruedeney "Denney" Williams to carry out the murder. That murder was tried before Albert Redhead in the May Criminal Assizes in 2008 and all four were sentenced to death.