The Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Friday quashed the murder conviction of Jarvis Small, who had been convicted of murdering 16-year old Neesa Gopaul whose body was found inside a suitcase submerged in a creek on the Linden Soesdyke Highway in 2010.
“In summary, the court allowed the appeal against conviction and sentence of Jarvis Small and it dismissed the appeal of Bibi Gopaul against conviction,” Justice Denys Barrow said in reading the judgement of the court.
But he said that her appeal was allowed in part by reducing her sentence from 30 years with no eligibility for parole before the expiration of 15 years. The judge said that the five years she spent on remand will also be deducted.
Gopaul had originally been sentenced to 106 years and Small, her lover, was sentenced to 96 years.
Neesa’s body was found inside the suitcase, along with her passport and other documents, on March 2, 2010.
The two had filed separate appeals to the CCJ, the country’s highest court and on Friday by a majority ruling the court held that there was no evidence and it was pure speculation that Small planned to kill Gopaul to avoid being prosecuted for sexually assaulting her.
It also found that there was no evidence that he had possessed the pair of dumbbells that was found in the suitcase with her body, and it was impossible to conclude that he was the killer because he said he knew who was the killer.
“As these were the only matters of evidence against Small, the court was satisfied that the trial judge should have upheld the submission that there was no case for Small to answer and directed his acquittal,” Justice Barrow said.
The CCJ noted that there was a “paucity of evidence” against Small at the start of the trial and his request for separate trials should have been granted. He was convicted based on evidence that was completely against him, the court ruled.
Referring to accused fraudster Simone De Nobrega’s testimony that Small had confessed to his role in young Gopaul’s murder, the CCJ said that evidence should not have been put to the jury.
