Forensic first in St Kitts
murder trial
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
BASSETERRE, St Kitts: The scientific
evidence that caught the murderer of British millionaire Tony Fetherston was
the first time that DNA results had been used on one of the Caribbean islands,
according to a report by the East Anglian Daily Times.
DNA evidence was crucial in detecting Joseph Hazel, a decorator aged 30, for
the shotgun killing at point-blank range of the 65-year-old millionaire from
Suffolk. Murder squad detectives said that it
was the first time in the history of the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis that
a crime was solved by scientific means.
Hazel, who had denied murder, was found guilty by a majority verdict of 10-2 a
week ago and he will be sentenced on April 26. Dennis Merchant, director of
public prosecutions, told the judge, Davidson Baptiste, that he wanted the
death penalty for the murderer. Calvin Fahie,
St Kitts commissioner of police, said: ''DNA made the case stronger. Before
the DNA results were confirmed the police had strong conviction that this was
their man, so I think the DNA strengthened our results.
"It speaks volumes because I think, internationally, that is the way most
sophisticated crimes have been detected and even though it may be the first
that is prominent in our case, it augurs well for collaboration between our
forces and our counterparts, regionally or internationally."
He commended members of the Criminal Investigation Department and other
officers for a 'fantastic job' in finding Mr Fetherston's killer.
Mr Fetherston died in the garden of his holiday home in Basseterre, St Kitts,
on January 26, 2000, when he was shot dead during a bungled robbery. His wife,
Margaret, was inside the bungalow talking on their phone to their daughter,
Alex, in New York, at the time of his death.
Hazel fled when Mrs Fetherston barricaded herself inside the one-storey house
and refused to give him money. But he left a maroon mask in the gardens.
Hazel's DNA was established by examining the roots of hair samples from him.
Saliva on the mask was tested for DNA but a DNA profile could not be found.
However, a pair of trousers from which the mask was cut was discovered outside
the garden walls. When it was examined for DNA, Hazel's DNA was found and
there were smaller amounts of DNA from an unknown person.
The only firm evidence linking Hazel to the murder was the DNA and that is why
it became so important for the prosecution team to bring forensic scientists
from England to give evidence. Mr Merchant
even brought in a British policewoman on a 8,000-mile round trip for just
three minutes in the witness box so that she could tell the jury she had taken
the vital evidence from Antigua to London.
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