Stephen Fray
One aspect of Jamaican case law is expected to develop further, when the Stephen Fray case is heard before the UK Privy Council.
The case should have far reaching implications for the interpretation of mental disorders in local courts.
Fray was convicted in 2009 for his attempted hijacking of a flight in the western city of Montego Bay.
Just this week, the UK Privy Council granted leave for him to appeal the conviction and sentence.
Among other things, Fray's legal team is contending that medical evidence of his mental disorder was rejected, and the standard used to judge his mental condition had been outdated.
It's being argued that a narrow approach was taken in assessing his true mental state, and this error resulted in the conviction.
Fray will be represented by UK-based Attorneys, but the local Attorney who prepared the matter Jacqueline Samuels Brown, states that the case will be a teaching tool.
“The modern approach in relation to psychariry is to move away from the narrow concept of insanity and the adverse pereception and to use the wider more inclusive concept of mental disorder and that is where the law has moved and that is why I say it will have implications not just for Fray but for the development of the jurisprudence in Jamaica and elsewhere,” she said.
Fray was convicted in October 2009, on eight counts for illegal possession of firearm, shooting with intent, robbery with aggravation, assault at common law and breaches of the Airport Act, arising from the attempted hijacking.
Though sentenced to 83 years, Fray is to serve 20 years because the sentences are to run concurrently.
Fray lost an appeal in Jamaica in 2011, to have the sentence and conviction overturned.
However, Fray and his attorney have maintained that he was mentally ill in April 2009, when he attempted to hijack the Canjet flight at the Sangster International Airport.
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