Leroy Fawkes (Appellant) v The King (Respondent) (The Bahamas)

Case summary

Case ID

JCPC/2025/0058

Jurisdiction

Bahamas

Parties

Appellant(s)

Leroy Fawkes

Respondent(s)

The King

Issue

Notwithstanding their finding that serious errors had occurred during the trial proceedings, did the Court of Appeal err in invoking the Proviso to uphold Mr Fawkes’ convictions?

Facts

On 8 May 2019 the Appellant, Mr Leroy Fawkes, was convicted, alongside Mr Stanford Pinder, of the murder of Mr Leonard Sweeting and of the attempted murder of three other persons during a shooting on 23 February 2017. Mr Fawkes, who was 16 years old at the time of the incident, was sentenced on 31 July 2020 to detention at the Court’s pleasure with a minimum period of detention of 20 years. He received concurrent sentences of 15 years for the attempted murder counts. Mr Fawkes filed an appeal against his convictions to the Court of Appeal, which was dismissed in a judgment given on 24 October 2022. The Court of Appeal found that the trial judge had wrongly admitted evidence of a purported confession and misdirected the jury on the voluntariness of that conviction. Notwithstanding these errors, the Court of Appeal upheld Mr Fawkes’ conviction. Mr Fawkes now seeks permission to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council against his convictions for murder and attempted murder.

Date of issue

30 June 2025

Case origin

PTA

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