Keir Monteith QC, of the Garden Court Chambers Crime Team, led Chandra Sekar of Angell Park Chambers, in an appeal against the murder conviction of Kinse Aidid.
The Court agreed with many of the submissions made and ‘expressed concern that the authorities did not provide certainty for judges as to when it is necessary to give a direction on the relevance of self-induced intoxication.’
The case has been reported in detail in Archbold at 17-90 and is also referred to in the Criminal Cases Compendium at 9-4 which judges use to help them accurately sum up cases to juries. The matter is now being appealed to the ECHR.
Keir’s junior Chandra Sekar had this case referred to him by WISH, a women's charity working in prison with vulnerable women.
Leave to appeal was refused on the papers by the Single Judge, and Chandra conducted a renewal application pro bono. Leave was granted on the single ground - whether the trial judge had directed correctly on intoxication and intent in specific intent cases.
Keir would like to commend Chandra for drafting the original grounds; obtaining leave and for all his hard and dedicated work since.
