Three Trinidadian men convicted of murdering four members of the same family during a drugs war in 1994 were hanged in Trinidad yesterday after the Privy Council in London turned down an appeal for a retrial lodged by two of the gang members.
Two hours after Law Lords sitting on the judicial committee of the Privy Council rejected pleas from Joey Ramiah and Ramkalawan Singh, the first of the three men, Dole Chadee, was hanged at the Royal Jail in Port of Spain. He had not appealed to the Privy Council on this occasion and his execution went ahead as scheduled.
His hanging was the first in Trinidad and Tobago for five years, and an hour later Ramiah met the same fate. Two hours after Ramiah's execution, Singh was hanged. Six other members of their gang are due to be hanged in two groups of three, later today and on Monday.
The Privy Council is the final court of appeal in cases heard in the former British colony, and several of the gang members have at various times lost appeals to Trinidad and Tobago's High Court and Appeal Court and the UN Committee on Human Rights.
Chadee, Singh and Ramiah and the other gang members were sentenced to death after they were convicted of the murder of four family members in the Williamsville suburb. At their trial, the prosecution said the gang dragged Mr Hamilton "Mice" Baboolal, his parents and sister from their beds and shot them in the head during a dispute over drugs.
Amnesty International described the hangings as "a bleak day for human rights in Trinidad and Tobago".