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Court hears wife killer’s appeal against conviction, sentence
Delon Gordon, who torched his wife causing her death and was sentenced to 83 years in jail for the crime, is challenging the decision of the jury, at the Court of Appeal in Kingston, Georgetown. In October 2014, a jury convicted Johnson of murdering his partner, Natasha Johnson, by setting her afire in their Better Hope, East Coast Demerara home on July 4, 2011.
Delon Gordon
Challenging the conviction and 83-year sentence of which a minimum of 50 years has to be served before becoming eligible for parole is Attorney-at-law Dexter Todd.
According to reports, Gordon, now 27, set the house on fire with Johnson, himself and three children inside.
Johnson was burnt extensively and had to be taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she later succumbed to her injuries. A post mortem examination revealed that Johnson had suffered from a dislocated nasogastric tube, brain haemorrhage and congested kidneys with heavy lungs that oozed a bloody liquid.
These injuries led to Johnson suffering from Adult Distress Respiratory Syndrome (ADRS), which was brought on as a result of trauma from the burns, eventually leading to her death.
Hearing the appeal on Tuesday were Chief Justice Roxane George and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud. Among several grounds, Todd is challenging the evidence of prosecution witness, fire investigator Wickham. Todd is also contending that the verdict of the jury was unreasonable, in that, it cannot be supported by the evidence adduced at the trial.
Natasha Johnson
Todd is questioning the testimony of the lone eyewitness with regard to the lighting conditions in the couple’s home and how he could have allegedly seen Gordon pouring out kerosene from a stove, since another witness had testified that the area in which the couple lived did not have electricity.
Furthermore, the lawyer contends that there was no evidence to support that his client intentionally burnt the woman. This, he said, was one of the weaknesses in the prosecution’s case that Gordon’s lawyer, at the time, failed to challenge.
At this stage, Justice George sought to remind Todd that a prosecution witness testified to hearing Johnson shouting, “Delon, how you could do this to me. I love you and I don’t want you to go to jail.” The Judge added that the witness testified to the deceased uttering these words while she ran out of the home with her body on fire.
But Todd maintained that such a statement is not conclusive and can be interpreted in a number of ways. The lawyer said that the statement does not mean that Johnson was saying that Gordon had intentionally burnt her.
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