Words and conduct supported conviction in taxi robbery

Santina Berry’s appeal against firearm and aggravated-robbery convictions was dismissed on 27 March. The Court of Appeal upheld concurrent three-year sentences and ordered that she begin serving them immediately.

The prosecution alleged that Berry joined three others in taking a taxi at gunpoint. The trial judge accepted evidence that she angrily instructed the driver to remain quiet after a gun appeared. Her conduct before and during the incident, considered together, supported the finding that she intentionally assisted the robbery.

The appellate judges rejected the argument that the words necessarily had an innocent meaning. The trial judge had examined the competing accounts and was entitled to accept the prosecution’s version. The judgment also applied the firearm-possession provision in force at the time, which addressed participation with an armed principal offender.

An earlier attempt to refer the matter as a case stated had failed because the proposed question concerned facts and was not presented through the required signed procedure. The eventual appeal proceeded normally; neither conviction nor sentence disclosed a basis for intervention.

Full official judgment used. The firearm provision and sentencing framework discussed were those applicable to the historical offences; no claim is made about present penalties. Later treatment not checked.