Andre Kirk Everett Hypolite was last night facing a life term in jail after a jury found him guilty of murdering fellow drug user Nicholas Dill because he spurned his sexual advances.

A Supreme Court Three jury took six-and-a-half hours to reach a guilty verdict, telling Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves just after 8 p.m. they had come to their decision by a majority of ten to two.

Forty five minutes earlier the six-man, six-woman jury unanimously convicted Hypolite, of no fixed abode, of wounding Mr. Dill?s girlfriend Stacy Ann Pike with intent to do her grievous bodily harm.

Thirty-three-year-old Hypolite ? who will be sentenced next month ? shouted out ?miscarriage of justice? and looked visibly distressed as he was led handcuffed to a waiting police van after the verdicts were delivered. His defence lawyer, Mark Pettingill, said he anticipated an appeal. ?I don?t think I have ever seen a case where, in my mind, there was more reasonable doubt raised,? he said. ?I really am surprised.?

Mr. Justice Greaves told the jury that because of the difficulty of the case he was granting them a special dispensation so they would not have to sit on a jury again for the next five years.

Earlier, during his summation, he said the two-and-a-half week trial had contained many ?inflammatory details? regarding sex, drugs and death. He told them: ?You ought not to allow any of such things as these to appeal to any prejudice or views or personal feelings or emotions you may or may not have. You should decide this case on the basis of the relevant facts.?

Father-of-two Mr. Dill ? known as Nicky ? was stabbed to death at his home in Pearman?s Hill, Warwick, by Hypolite after a drug-taking session on Boxing Day 2004.

The court heard during Ms Pike?s evidence that she and the two men smoked crack cocaine and indulged in oral sex before Hypolite asked to have anal sex with 43-year-old Mr. Dill.

Mr. Dill initially agreed but then withdrew his consent, causing Hypolite to grab a knife and stab him. Ms Pike was injured as she tried to stop the struggle between the two men.

The noise from the fight caused Mr. Dill?s family in a nearby home to call Police, after which Hypolite fled the scene.

Mr. Dill died after being taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. His killer was arrested three days later after an Island-wide search. Mr. Justice Greaves initially told the jury yesterday that if they accepted Ms Pike?s evidence they could decide that Hypolite had been provoked to knife Mr. Dill when the latter withdrew his consent for the anal sex.

He said: ?The defence of provocation is raised on the evidence of Stacy Pike that it was after the deceased, Nicky, withdrew his consent to anal sex... after having agreed to do it and after the accused had dressed his penis with a condom that the accused left the bed and returned with a knife and stabbed the deceased.?

He said provocation could be open as a defence to Hypolite on the murder charge and that if the jury accepted that defence they should instead convict him of manslaughter.

But he later told them that the Criminal Code stated that a lawful act was not provocation.

?In my opinion, the refusal to consent to sex with somebody is not an unlawful act. Therefore you cannot provoke somebody. It?s a matter for you to consider.?

He told the jury that in order to convict Hypolite of murder ?you must be sure the prosecution has disproved provocation?.

He asked them to consider whether Hypolite himself could have suffered some violence or believed he was about to be attacked.

?Self defence is lawful,? he told them. ?Revenge is not.?

Mr. Justice Greaves said the jury would have to acquit Hypolite if they decided his drug intoxication meant he did not or may not have intended to kill or cause grievous bodily harm.

?If you are sure that despite the effect of the drugs he intended to kill or to cause grievous bodily harm then this part of the case is proved against him,? he added.

He said it was the Crown?s contention that Hypolite attacked Ms Pike because she was attempting to stop him from killing Mr. Dill.

He said the prosecution case was that ?he wounded her with the intention to do her grievous bodily harm so he could complete his primary aim of killing Nicholas Dill for refusing his sexual advance?.

During the trial the jury heard conflicting evidence about the cause of Mr. Dill?s death. Prosecution witness Valerie Rao, a forensic pathologist, said he bled to death from his stab wounds.

But the defence brought in forensic pathologist Michael Baden ? ?star? of the HBO television show Autopsy and frequent CNN guest speaker ? who claimed he died from a drug overdose.