TNAG-1923-FCO40-2728-Capital-punishment-in-Hong-Kong-1989 — Page 7

CONFIDENTIAL

C

Creech-Jones Doctrine. Sir G Howe concluded that, since Parliamentary business managers would be most reluctant to consider such legislation, he preferred the latter

course.

D

E

[L]

•

or

7. In 1988, a Jamaican citizen, Troy Shorter, was

convicted in Bermuda of pre-meditated murder, for which the death penalty is mandatory. While the appeals procedure was in train, the Governor asked whether it would be appropriate for him to seek guidance from

Ministers in reaching a decision whether to commute

not. Sir G Howe concluded that it would not be

appropriate. Shortly before the Privy Council was to announce its decision that Shorter's appeal should be

dismissed, the Bermudian Opposition tabled a motion requiring a Parliamentary debate on Capital Punishment. (In the event the debate was postponed until after

Shorter's mercy plea was submitted). The Governor decided that while this was pending in the legislature, it would be repugnant for him to allow Shorter to face

execution. He therefore commuted the sentence to life

imprisonment (an action which caused one member of the governing party to resign the Whip).

8. This line however, provided only a temporary

solution. Five further cases of alleged pre-meditated

murder are scheduled to be heard in Bermuda over the next

six months, but meanwhile a referendum over capital

punishment on the initiative of Premier Swan's government has still to be held. In the recent Throne Speech, the Government proposed a reduction in the voting age from 21 to 18. In practice this will mean that the referendum probably will not take place until a decision

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CONFIDENTIAL