Men who killed 'Good Samaritan' couple get fresh shot at freedom

Men jailed for the brutal 2007 killing of a 'Good Samaritan' couple, whose throats were slashed and bodies dumped in bushes, have been given a fresh shot at freedom after the United Kingdom's Privy Council granted them permission to challenge their convictions and sentences.

Passmore Millings and Andre Ennis, who are serving life sentences at hard labour, were granted leave to appeal on March 10 by Privy Council judges Lord David Lloyd-Jones, Lady Vivien Rose, and Lord David Anthony Stewart Richards.

The men will argue through their attorneys that their convictions are unsafe, pointing to concerns about an alleged plea deal involving an accomplice whose evidence they say was not properly corroborated.

Millings and Ennis, who is also known as Shane Brown, were convicted in 2012 in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston for the murders of Taiwo McKenzie and his girlfriend Janelle Whyte.

The court heard that the couple was lured into a deadly trap after a dispute stemming from a motorcycle crash involving Ennis and McKenzie. McKenzie had initially agreed to assist with expenses but later refused to pay for repairs, a decision that reportedly angered Ennis.

Prosecutors said Ennis later instructed accomplice George Cooper to arrange a meeting with McKenzie under the guise of delivering medication. However, the meeting turned into a setup.

Cooper testified that he was forced at gunpoint by Millings to take part in the plan. McKenzie and Whyte were then abducted, robbed, and taken to a remote area in Havendale, where attempts were made to extort money from them.

When those efforts failed, the situation escalated. Cooper told the court that Millings suggested killing the couple. The two victims were taken away separately and later murdered, with Ennis seen holding what appeared to be a blood stained knife.

Their bodies were discovered in bushes a day after they were reported missing on November 8, 2007.

Cooper later withdrew money using Whyte's bank card under duress. Surveillance footage reportedly showed him and another man, said to be Ennis, at an ATM.

Days after the killings, Cooper went to the police with a relative and gave a statement. He later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to rob and was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2011. His testimony became a key pillar of the prosecution's case.

In 2021, the Court of Appeal dismissed challenges to the convictions, describing the case as strong and crediting the outcome to good police work, the use of technology and the assistance of an accomplice. However, the court reduced the men's pre parole period from 50 years to 40 years, ruling that the original sentence was excessive despite the heinous nature of the crime.

With the Privy Council now stepping in, the case is set for another high stakes showdown as both men continue to maintain their innocence.

- CANA

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