The appeal by the three members of the Morgan family against their conviction and sentence in the hot water burning case has been adjourned to next February, the second such postponement since their 2018 conviction.
In April 2018, Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett jailed for four years Pastor Nigel Morgan, his wife, Althia, and their 23-year-old daughter, Krystal, after finding them guilty of unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on Cuthbert Victory of Caruth Village, Mesopotamia.
Mr. and Mrs. Morgan had held Victory as their daughter poured on him a hot liquid from a kettle in the road outside their home in Hopewell, Mesopotamia.
Victory suffered first-degree burns to his back, shoulder, face and chest as a result of the assault.
Immediately after their conviction and sentencing, Kay Bacchus-Baptiste, the Morgans’ lawyer signalled her clients’ intention to appeal the sentence.
An appeal was filed and came up for hearing in May, but the parties were not ready to proceed.
The matter was also listed for hearing during the last sitting of the Court of Appeal in St. Vincent, last month, but was later removed from the list.
Bacchus-Baptiste later told iWitness News that the appeal will be heard next February.
She said that both sides had to file submissions, but that was not done in time.
The lawyer told iWitness News that by the time she got the record of the trial, it didn’t get through in time for the October 2019 hearing.
She said that it had taken a long time for her to get the transcript of the hearing from the magistrate’s court.
The Morgans had applied for bail, pending the hearing of their appeal, but were denied bail.
The lawyer said her clients can apply for bail now, but since the matter is slated for hearing in February, they are unlikely to secure bail.
One week of after the sentencing, Senior Prosecutor Adolphus Delpelsche, who represented the Crown during the trial, expressed confidence that the Morgans would lose their appeal.
“I am pretty confident. I think the conviction is pretty safe based on the evidence that was adduced by us,” Delplesche told iWitness News.
“Appeal is a right. Anybody can appeal a matter, but I am pretty, pretty confident that the conviction will be sustained at the Court of Appeal, based on the evidence,” said the prosecutor, who had told the court that the Morgans’ actions were “barbaric”.
I need a legal opinion here, should the Morgan loose the appeal, can they be resentenced to a longer period or just served b the original sentence ? I wish the law provides for a longer sentence to teach them a lesson. I feel they got away with very lenient sentence.
Amos, you have me laughing. I agree with you totally. Such an evil act. What could have possessed hem to poue a hot liquid on human skin? Also I am wondering if Mr. Victory wil be financially compensated!
They were fighting a spiritual war according to them with physical means. They got the Bible scripture all mixed up! Lol.
They need 4 more years. They have expressed no remorse!
An arrogant set of imposters making the christain faith look bad!
Not even an apology to Mr Victory nor his family- not a declaration that “we acted in a way not acceptable to mankind nor our faith and we are sorry for our inappropriate actions!” But trying to bust the prison gates???
What appalling arrogance is this?
Christianity here in SVG, like our politics, is thoroughly broken. Our politics has been captured for a good many years now by one family with their dishonest Karl Marxian narrative, while our Christianity too has been likewise seized by many charlatans and untrained clerics.
The Karl Marxian narrative in our politics is very understandable, seeing that an appeal addressed to a very poor and impoverished mass, with the “something for nothing” mantra, is so world-wide! But our giving way to so many charlatans and untrained clerics in our religion, is truly very, very foolish indeed. That is, taking into view, the widespread protestant Reformation of the Sixteenth century.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zrpcwmn/revision/2
How many of our untrained clerics here are aware of Martin Luther’s “Ninety-Five points Theses” of 1517 is hard to know, or even the ramification of those “Ninety-Five points Theses” on the foolishness that those unlearned clerics here teach to their equally unlearned congregations.
With over five hundred years of Reformed Religion there surely should be no excuse for such gross ignorance in religious teachings in SVG! https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45001/45001-pdf.pdf yet so many Vincentians find themselves being hoodwinked by snake oil sales people in religion who borrow music from the world of Pop music to sell their snake oil in so many Sunday partying as we contrast! https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/calvin-the-institutes-of-the-christian-religion
When Louis Berkhof penned his now famous volume of “Systematic Theology” as a guide to our Reformed Christian Theology, his there setting out in simple forms the very basics, one would have thought that ordinary Christians would be wise enough to avoid the antics of snake oil sales people of Religion. https://www.biblicaltraining.org/library/systematic-theology-louis-berkhof sadly however, there are those here in SVG and elsewhere whose religion is not one accepted from the head first, but rather one accepted from an emotional desire to belong.
Therefore, let us hope that as time goes by, we may become a people so learned enough so as to question those who wishes to sell us “false religion” and those too who would wish to reduce our politics to “something for nothing”!
As I recently heard a minister said and which I agree , we get caught up with our focus on religion instead of serving our Almighty creator .
they are many religion but only ONE GOD/ ONE LOVE / ONE ALMIGHTY .
AI, you of all people make such a statement.
Jolly I dont get into these types of debates . As Bob Marley sings ” every man has a right to decide his own destiny “
It is a crying shame that they would do such a heinous thing to another himan being and is walking around free year later. They should be jailed. Darm bunch of sickos.
I will never be a bandwagonist or a follower …..Base solely on what I read while following this case on this forum on FB , this case and the defendants was poorly represented and the crowns prosecution was very weak and I’m not even a lawyer lol. Therefore its my belief this appeal will be won by the defendants once presented accurately once based on the law.
AI, you continue to demonstrate that you do not know right from wrong, or that you prefer wrong to right.
Lets all hope pray that these people have there convictions extended by the Appeal Court.
I agree with Amos
Everyone deserves a second chance when you get to know the Morgan family they are amazing people we are all mere human beings an we make mistakes who are we to judge them judgement is not for us its for God the bible qoutes by saying judge ye not neither ye be judge, He who hast nevre sin cast the first stone i guess in a case as this you all here are all perfect an clean an ready to go to heaven? The love of many shall wax cold ! What a shame
Yes you deserve a second chance WHEN you ask for forgiveness and express remorse.
It is called repentance!
You deserve no second chance when in the midst of a conviction you still parading as an over-lord over the wrong that you have done.
The Morgans have been behaving like they had a right to scald Mr Victory – and to seek an appeal from their court sentence says a lot about who they truly are.
Where in God’s name is the Christian Humility, Remorse and Repentance?
Yes Ladybug. They should not even have been on trial. Instead we should worship the Morgans and do nothing because if God does not punish them, then what they did must have been fine. Same with murderers and rapists. If someone comes and rapes your daughter, kills your son, fornicates with your husband and steals all your possessions and God does nothing then that must mean it was justified; because who are we to judge them, right?
Indeed, one of the sad problem that the Morgan’s faced was rather simple in observation. First, they appears to have never been properly trained for the Christian Ministry. Secondly as a result, their poor understanding of the Christian religion do appears for them rather simplistic and this has lead them into errors and most foolish behaviours.
Had they took the time and opportunity to read a copy of Martin Luther’s “Book Bondage of the Will” they may well had been better prepared for what they were seeking to engage themselves in!
The argument: https://chapellibrary.org:8443/pdf/books/botw.pdf
Martin Luther’s “Book” in guidance:
http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/luther/Bondage%20of%20the%20Will%20-%20Martin%20Luther.pdf
Moreover, they were so thoroughly ill equipped and unlearned in Biblical matters, and one may add, like many others here, they should have never been let loose on the unsuspecting public.
This family like many so-called religious teachers here too, needed to have understood and learned what is meant by “Systematic Theology”! To that end, they could have equipped themselves with B.B. Warfield’s idea of “Systematic Theology” rather than going about establishing their own Christian theology.
https://davidschrock.com/2018/01/09/systematic-theology-in-military-garb-b-b-warfield-on-the-theological-task/
In other words, were the Morgan’s to have a working knowledge of “Systematic Theology”, they would have realised that there could be no errors in whatever they were seeking to teach from their Bible, as all uttered statements gleamed thereon, must stack-up one upon another, so as to produce a comprehensive whole, without error that is, both in doctrine and in practice. Likes blocks in a building!
In all professions learning must come first as a prerequisite. The very sad fact in those events for the Morgan’s is this, the Morgan’s were thoroughly unlearned in what the Church knows as Reformed Christian doctrines to which the Morgan’s now have to face the tragic consequence before the Court.