|
Defence lawyers asked that David Swain serve just 18 years before being eligible for parole, during a hearing yesterday morning in High Court.
Last week, a unanimous jury found Mr. Swain guilty of killing his wife, Shelley Arden Tyre, while scuba diving off Cooper Island in March 1999. Mr. Swain faces a mandatory life sentence, but Justice Indra-Hariprashad Charles can order him to be eligible for parole at some time in the future, under the new Parole Board Act. Mr. Swain, who will turn 54 in November, sat expressionless through the hearing. His lawyer, Hayden St. Clair-Douglas submitted copies of around 40 letters to the Court, from friends and family of Mr. Swain, including his two children Jeremy Swain and Jennifer Bloom. Mr. Swain’s children “long for the day, and hope it will not be too far away, that the Court will grant some sort of parole,” his lawyer said to a nearly empty Court room. Since the verdict last week, the international camera crews have left and neither Mr. Swain’s children nor Ms. Tyre’s parents were present. Before leaving the territory, Ms. Tyre’s father, Richard Tyre, gave a victim impact statement. “When Shelley was killed, our life pretty much ended,” he told the Court.
The full story appears in the Nov. 5, 2009 issue.
|
Home 
