Convicted killer Malik Cox loses appeal at Privy Council

BY DELANA ISLES

One of the Versace club shooters, Malik Cox, has once again been denied his freedom for the murder of Andreika Stubbs on March 23, 2018, this time by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

The appeal was heard on December 12, 2022, before Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Sales, Lord Hamblen, Lord Burrows and Lord Stephens in London.

Representing Cox at the hearing were King’s Counsel Siobhan Grey and Lara Maroof instructed by Simons Muirhead & Burton LLP.

The Crown was represented by King’s Counsel Andrew Mitchell and Eugene Otuonye, and attorney Tamika Grant.

The appeal was dismissed on several grounds with the court affirming the decision of trial judge Shiraz Aziz.

The appellate board concluded that this is not an exceptional case where it should depart from the decisions of the trial judge and the Court of Appeal.

The judgement stated: “The conclusions of Justice Aziz in respect of the evidence of Anthony Francis (Ground 1) and

Tyrone Smith (Ground 2) were reasonable and were supported on the evidence and there has been no wrong decision on a point of law and no miscarriage of justice.

“The Court of Appeal was therefore entitled to uphold the decision of Justice Aziz.”

The Privy Council outlined that there are three general features of the case that are worthy of mention as supporting the decisions of the lower courts.

“First, there was no evidence at all put forward by the defence. Malik Cox gave a ‘no comment’ interview and chose not to give evidence at trial.

“Secondly, the evidence of the prosecution’s witnesses at trial was consistent as between one another. In contrast to some trials, there was no conflict within the prosecution evidence given at trial.

“Thirdly, Justice Aziz decided that both Anthony Francis and Tyrone Smith were credible and reliable witnesses independent of each other.

“Even if the Board had decided (contrary to what we have actually decided) that Justice Aziz’s assessment had been unreasonable in respect of one of those two witnesses, there would still have been the evidence of the other which in itself, alongside the other evidence in the case, would have been sufficient to convict Malik Cox.”

Life Sentence Affirmed

On December 12, 2018, Cox was convicted and sentenced in a judge-alone trial. Cox’s trial was the second one tried under the Trial Without a Jury Ordinance.

The facts of the case are that on March 23, 2018, he and another man, Anthony Francis were at the Versace Club along Leeward Highway, Providenciales when they opened fire on a crowd of people.

Andreika Stubbs-Saintelmon was fatally shot, and a second victim, Tyrone Smith – who was 17 years old at the time, was injured. Smith was reportedly the intended target.

Both Cox and Francis were initially charged with Stubbs’ murder and the shooting of the teenager.

However, Cox’s co-accused testified against him, providing much of the evidence that convicted him at trial.

A subsequent appeal to the appellate court was dismissed, and Cox took his case to the Privy Council on two grounds which focused on the evidence of the two main witnesses for the prosecution, Anthony Francis and Tyrone Smith.

Those two grounds were that one, the Court of Appeal erred in concluding that the trial judge was entitled to find that Anthony Francis was a credible and reliable witness for the prosecution and/or that the trial judge’s conclusions in that regard were reasonable having regard to the undertaking agreed by Anthony Francis prior to him providing the police with his first witness statement on May 4, 2018.

“And ground two, that the Court of Appeal erred in concluding that the trial judge was entitled to find that Tyrone Smith was a credible and reliable witness and/or that the trial judge’s conclusions in that regard were reasonable.”

Cox will serve the mandatory 30-year life sentence before he has a chance at parole.