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Murderer to hang
Murderer to hang
From
The Chronicle
of 30 Mar, 2001
Another person has been sent to the gallows in Dominica. Elvis Bunche of Tarish Pit was late Monday afternoon found guilty of murdering Kendal Thomas in 1998.
It took the nine-member jury of seven women and two men just under two hours to return with the unanimous verdict. In October 1998, Bunche left a bloc-o-rama outside Whitchurch on Old Street, went to his home at Tarish Pit, returned to Old Street and shot Kendal Thomas resulting in his death. In the process, he also wounded Joel Royer.P>
In the one-week trial, five eyewitnesses testified on behalf of the State. They all spoke of seeing the deceased consistently breaking bottles during the action on Old Street.
Eyewitness Rudy Registe said before leaving the scene and his subsequent return, Bunche said, ' Wait, you will see when I get back.'
In a caution statement given to the police after the crime was committed, Bunche claimed that he had approached a "fella" who was breaking bottles on his bike. Bunche claimed the bottles broken by the deceased (Kendal Thomas) broke a signal of his bike and dented his silencer. He also claimed to have been attacked by the deceased with a broken bottle. ' I shot at him, he fell and I kept shooting at him. I went home, police came to my home and I gave them the gun,' the statement said. Rayburn Blackmoore,Security Adviser to the Prime Minister, said Bunche revealed to him that he had purchased the firearm in Guadeloupe.
But speaking from the prisoners dock, Bunche gave a totally different story about how he obtained the gun and the circumstances surrounding the incident.
While admitting using the gun, he denied evidence that he had gone to his home for it. Instead, he said a friend nearby gave it to him. His allegation that he was cuffed and kicked by a police officer resulting in his confessing could not be substantiated.
Bunche's statements that the deceased attacked him came under attack by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Ola Mae Edwards and Justice Cenac.
'Look at where the bullets struck the deceased. If he was attacking Bunche would he have received the wounds in these areas'' The Judge said, the gun shot wounds received by the deceased (Thomas) were on his right hip and side of his upper back.
Justice Cenac, in his summation, told the jury, that before arriving at a verdict, they were to look at the conduct of Bunche before, during and after the incident and the weapon he used. ' How could a reasonable person from Tarish Pit, and same age as the accused acted'' He asked.Pathologist Peter Bellot attributed Thomas' cause of death to gun shot wounds received, shock and blood in abdomen cavity.
Testifying on behalf of Bunche was his girlfriend Bernice Joseph; she denied suggestions that he went home and fetched the firearm. 'I am home between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., if this was the case I would have seen him,' she said.
Bunche's appointment with the hangman brings to six, persons currently on death row in Dominica.
Zena & Gina Dyer represented Bunche from the law firm of Dyer & Dyer.
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