Appeals Court in St Maarten upholds guilty verdict for Dominican charged with killing his sister

A three judge panel court of appeal in St Maarten has upheld the murder conviction of 39 year old Riviere George of Dominica who was sentenced in February 2011 to 11 years and six months in prison for murdering his sister Angela le Blanc-George in her St Maarten home on April 22, 2010.

George had appealed his conviction while maintaining his innocence claiming that he and his sister were very close and that he was not responsible for her death.

In upholding his sentence, the judges were said to have relied heavily on the testimony of an anonymous witness who claimed to have seen Riviere holding his sister in a headlock hours before she died.

The Appeals Court also established that the witness' statements fitted with the victim's injuries as mentioned in the doctor's report.

They also upheld Police DNA evidence that claimed that blood found on the victim’s pants was that of his sister. During the trial, the defence had argued that the evidence was contaminated since it was obtained more than three months after her death.

The Appeals Court also dismissed as "implausible" George's explanation as to why there had been traces of his sister's blood on his pants. According to George, he got the blood on his pants while kneeling by his sister’s side after she was discovered dead.

However, the Police indicated that there was no blood around her body and that all of it was contained underneath her. Police had initially said no foul play was involved but later doctors determined that she was strangled to death.