[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

September 13




BARBADOS:

Debate on abolishing automatic death penalty on hold in Barbados Parliament



Lawmakers on Tuesday came as close as they have ever done to striking down a 
key provision of capital punishment - the abolition of the automatic death 
sentence - before putting a pause on the measure.

The Lower House withdrew the proposed amendment to the Offences Against the 
Person Act for further consideration by government.

The amendment was to bring the law in line with a Caribbean Court of Justice 
(CCJ) ruling that struck down the mandatory death sentence in the appeal cases 
of Barbadian murder convicts Jabari Sensimania Nervais and Dwayne Omar Severin.

Their separate appeals were consolidated because they both challenged the 
constitutionality of the mandatory death sentence for murder in Barbados. The 
justices ruled that a section of the Offences Against the Person Act was 
unconstitutional because it provided for a mandatory sentence of death.

But legislators left a clear message that the death penalty will remain the law 
of the land.

"Let there be no doubt that the Cabinet of Barbados has not made a decision to 
abolish the death penalty. ... What we are doing simply is abolishing the 
mandatory nature of the death penalty and making corrections and amendments to 
legislation to give effect to that," said Member of Parliament for Christ 
Church East, Wilfred Abrahams, who piloted debate on the measure.

"It is not as if we had a choice. While we might have delayed in following the 
dictates of the Inter-American Human Rights Court or following the dictates of 
the conventions that we are signatories to, from the time the CCJ made the 
ruling that the mandatory death penalty was unconstitutional the CCJ set out 
what the new law for Barbados was going forward," he added.

But the amendment to the law was shelved immediately following concerns 
expressed during the speeches by 3 Members of Parliament (MPs) - Ralph Thorne, 
Housing Minister Charles Griffith and Maritime Affairs Minister Kirk Humphrey.

At the end of those contributions, acting leader of Government Business in the 
Lower Chamber of Parliament, Lt. Colonel Jeffrey Bostic rose to table a 
successful motion that debate be suspended.

Leading off the discussion when the House resumed its post-lunch session, an 
emotional Thorne was adamant that the provision in the bill which empowers a 
judge solely with the responsibility of sentencing a convicted person to death, 
should be removed.

The senior attorney suggested that the decision should be made by jury, 
contending that it was too heavy a burden to place on the shoulders of one man 
or woman.

"I want to submit to you, your honour, and I want the public that feels very, 
very strongly on the issue of the death penalty, to consider whether the 
responsibility, the heavy and final responsibility of passing a sentence of 
death should fall on one person ... whether it should fall alone on the 
shoulders of a judge or whether, as in some jurisdictions in the United States 
... that grave and weighty decision ... should be made by a panel of 12 
persons, and whether that panel of 12 persons would be allowed only to pass 
that sentence of death if they are unanimous," suggested the MP for Christ 
Church South. He pointed to a murder case which was sent on appeal to the CCJ, 
in which it was the jury who had not only convicted the person but also 
condemned him to death.

"Under the system that we are changing ... at the urging of the Caribbean Court 
of Justice, in a very real sense, it was the jury that was not only convicting 
but was condemning that man to death. As I said, the judge's role was 
ritualistic. This amendment ... places that entire responsibility on the judge 
himself," he said, adding that parliamentarians must now invite the wider 
public into this discussion.

While the lawyer was quick to point out that this discussion had no political 
borders but was a matter of conscience, he stressed that the masses now ought 
to have a say in whether a judge alone or jury by unanimous verdict should 
decide if someone should be executed.

The senior lawyer also had issue with section 26 of the Constitution - the 
"savings clause" introduced in the Independence Constitution of 1966 to keep in 
force the full body of colonial law as the country ended 339 years of unbroken 
rule from London.

Thorne explained that this provision ensured that the country maintained any 
"bad or unjust" laws which existed prior to independence in 1966. He recalled 
that a few weeks ago, the CCJ reminded Barbados that the clause should "not 
hold the country's legal system hostage indefinitely.

"That court remarked that in Belize, when they introduced their independence 
constitution, their savings law clause was expressed to be for 5 years. In 
other words, it was transitional. What the savings law clause does in Belize 
and what it ought to have done in Barbados 50 years ago, was to have urged the 
Parliament to get busy ... that any law prior to independence which was unjust 
... any law that was ripe for amendment, the Parliament of the country was 
urged to amend that law," he told the Lower Chamber.

Thorne also remembered that the CCJ had said that the Barbados Parliament 
should get on with the business of correcting pre-Independence law as it 
related to this amendment.

"What is being done today ought to have been done a long time ago ... There is 
so much law that needs reforming in Barbados. There is so much law that is 
antiquated ... irrelevant ... law that needs to be updated with technological 
advances."

Thorne suggested that in the future, Parliament must use its initiative rather 
than have to act on the behest of external forces.

He urged Attorney General Dale Marshall that even when the amendment to the 
Offences Against the Person Act becomes law, he should return to the House soon 
to have it debate a system of degrees of murder as in other countries.

"I think the time has come when the degrees ought to be extended beyond what we 
have presently. At this point in time, we only have murder and manslaughter... 
And ... sometimes you get a sense that a jury believes that the penalty for 
murder is so severe that what might otherwise be murder they reduce to 
manslaughter. I suspect there are juries who have found men guilty of the 
lesser offence of manslaughter simply because they don't want the man hung," 
added the prominent attorney.

(source: The Daily Herald)

*******************

Opposition leader calls for resumption of death penalty



It is time to resume hanging people in Barbados when all their appeals have 
been exhausted.

That's the view of Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley, who on Tuesday 
maintained the death penalty could be a deterrent to some potential murderers.

Speaking in House of Assembly during debate on the Offences Against the Person 
(Amendment) Bill, 2018, he stressed the death penalty should be executed 
expeditiously in instances where the courts have ultimately determined it to be 
the appropriate punishment for people convicted of murder.

The bill, in the name of Attorney General Dale Marshall, was piloted by Member 
of Parliament for Christ Church East, Wilfred Abrahams. He said it was intended 
to bring Barbados' laws into conformity with human rights conventions and to 
accord with decisions of the Privy Council, the Inter-American Court on Human 
Rights, and the Caribbean Court of Justice.

(soruce: stabroeknews.com)








JAPAN:

Japanese prosecutors want to see suspected 'Twitter Killer' hang----Takahiro 
Shiraishi is suspected of n9 dismemberment murders of 8 women and 1 man he met 
through Twitter.



Japanese prosecutors are determined to see an accused serial killer hang.

Officials have indicted Takahiro Shiraishi, 27, on multiple charges of murder, 
forcible sexual intercourse and robbery.

Cops discovered 9 dismembered bodies in the Tokyo home of Shiraishi whom the 
papers have dubbed "The Twitter Killer" because of his alleged use of the 
social media app to lure his victims.

"(Shiraishi's case) is a serious incident. We judged that we need to make the 
entire picture of the incident clear to the people," a high-ranking prosecutor 
told Asahi Shimbun.

The victims of suspected Twitter Killer Takahiro Shiraishi.

According to the indictment, the unemployed man became friends with his alleged 
victims - who range in age from 15 to 26 - through a post on Twitter about 
suicide.

He allegedly lured nine people to the lair and strangled them with rope. 8 of 
the victims were women and 1 was a man who was looking for his girlfriend.

The slayings occurred between Aug. 23 to Oct. 23 in 2017.

After allegedly murdering his victims, cops claim he stole their money and 
"committed forcible sexual intercourse" on the women.

Most of the remains were discovered in plastic containers.

Shiraishi allegedly told detectives he wanted the money so he could lead an 
easy life filled with sex.

"The evidence is not only his testimonies," a senior prosecutor told the 
newspaper. "But, basically, we will be able to prove the crimes with his 
confessions."

(source: standard-freeholder.com)








CHINA:

Jury Sentences Arsonist to Death in South China



On Tuesday, September 11, a man was sentenced to death and stripped of his 
politcal rights by a court in Guangdong province.

Liu Chunlu started a fire inside a KTV bar, which took the lives of 18 people 
and injured 3 others back on April 24 of this year.

According to Xinhua, the defendant committed the arson after being turned down 
by a waitress he was hitting on. Later, he was allegedly interrupted during a 
business discussion by an unidentified KTV patron. He stated in court that he 
was angry after those events transpired.

To vent his anger, Liu parked his motorbike near the entrance of the 
establishment and removed his oil pipe, leaking the oil onto the ground. His 
friends pleaded with him to stop, but Liu ignited his lighter and started the 
deadly blaze. There was not enough time for the 18 people located on the second 
and third floors to escape.

Liu fled the scene immediately afterwards and was taken into custody by 10am 
that same day.

On April 24, just days after Liu's arrest, 'The People's Jury Law' was enacted 
as a brand new system to make rulings on severe criminal cases (prison 
sentences of 10 years or more, life in prison, the death penalty and other 
cases that heavily influence society). The new system calls for 3 judges and 4 
jurors to form a 7-member panel. The Intermediate People's Court of Qingyuan 
City sentenced Liu to death on Tuesday with this new panel.

This was the 1st sentencing in Guangdong under the new system, according to the 
Shaanxi Province People's Prosecutor Office official Weibo account.

(source: thatsmags.com)








INDIA:

Chennai Girl Rape Case: Charge Sheet Filed Against 17; Death Penalty Provision 
Invoked



A charge sheet was filed on Wednesday against 17 people in the alleged rape of 
an 11-year old hearing-impaired girl, arraigning the accused under the new law 
which provides for death penalty for child rapists.

The charge sheet was filed by Special Public Prosecutor N Ramesh before a 
Mahila court here for cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences 
(POCSO) Act, nearly 2 months after the incident came to the fore.

The accused include a liftman, security guards, plumbers, electricians and 
other maintenance staff working at an apartment complex in Ayanavaram locality 
where the girl lived.

She was allegedly sexually assaulted several times over 7 months.

Apart from the POCSO Act, the charge sheet invokes various sections of the IPC, 
including under the newly added sections 376AB and 376DB that provide for a 
minimum 20 year rigorous imprisonment and maximum death penalty for raping 
girls under 12 years.

The new provisions have come into force after Parliament on August 6 last 
passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill which replaced an earlier ordinance 
promulgated in the wake of Kathua rape case.

This is the first time that the amended provisions have been invoked by the 
prosecution in the state.

The horrific incident had led to shock and outrage and the arrested had been 
attacked by some lawyers in the court where they were produced on July 17.

According to police, the girl was sedated with injections, drug-laced soft 
drinks and made to sniff a powder by the accused before sexually assaulting her 
repeatedly.

The incident had come to light after the victim, a class 7 student, narrated 
her ordeal to her elder sister, who then informed their parents. Following this 
a police complaint was lodged on July 15.

(source: news18.com)