CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: BERMUDA
Erskine Durrant BURROWS, Aged 33
Larry Winfield
TACKLYN, Aged 26
1. The two prisoners were jointly charged, convicted and
sentenced to death on 18 November 1976 on two counts of murder
and one of aggravated robbery. Their appeals were dismissed on
13 March 1977. The Acting Governor then consulted the Bermuda
Prerogative of Mercy Committee, who recommended, by a five to
one majority, that the verdict should stand. The Acting Governor
therefore decided not to exercise his delegated power to grant
clemency and that the law should take its course. The accused
applied to the Privy Council for leave to appeal to the Council
against sentence and conviction. Leave was refused on 6 October
1977.
2. All other possibilities having been exhausted, a petition
was sent to The Queen on behalf of the condemned men. After
careful consideration of the matters raised in the petition, and
after the Governor had again referred the matter to the
Prerogative of Mercy Committee, I was unable to advise Her Majesty
to intervene to prevent the law from taking its course.
Accordingly, it was announced in Bermuda that the executions will
take place at dawn on 2 December.
3. The prisoners were convicted of murder in the course of an
armed robbery. They shot to death the Manager and Assistant
Manager of a shopping centre after having tied them by the hands
and ankles so that they were helpless and defenceless.
premeditated murder by the use of a lethal weapon in furtherance
It was a
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