The mother of murdered teenager Rebecca Middleton has welcomed moves to boost prosecutors’ rights to appeal judges’ decisions — something deemed to have helped defeat justice in her case.

With today marking the 11th anniversary of her daughter’s death, Cindy Bennett told The Royal Gazette she believed legislation proposed by Shadow Minister for Justice John Barritt could help other families in future.

“I believe there’s a purpose and a reason for Becky’s death, and it’s going to mark some changes for the better.

Maybe the changes won’t help in our case but I do think some of the changes that come will be beneficial for Bermuda’s law,” she said last night.

Mr. Barritt highlighted the Middleton case when he asked the House of Assembly on Friday to allow the Director of Public Prosecutions to launch appeals on more than simply questions of law alone as at present.

He wants the Court of Appeal to be able to hear appeals based on the facts of the alleged crime, a mixture of law and fact, or any other ground it deems sufficient.

The current legal restrictions were highlighted in the Middleton case when they stopped the Privy Council — the highest court of appeal for Bermuda — from overturning the controversial decision of a judge to throw out a murder case against one of the accused.

Rebecca was found dying at a remote spot in Ferry Reach, St. George’s on July 3 1996, having been raped and stabbed while on vacation from her home in Canada. The fact that no-one has been brought to justice for the slaying sparked negative publicity about Bermuda’s judicial system both at home and abroad.

Kirk Mundy — a Jamaican then aged 21 — and Justis Smith — a Bermudian then aged 19 — were arrested days later. Mundy was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of accessory after the fact before forensic tests were complete, and was jailed for five years. When new evidence later came in allegedly linking him to the killing, the Privy Council rejected a bid by prosecutors to have him face a fresh charge of murder. Meanwhile, the murder case against Smith was thrown out before a jury had chance to consider it by Judge Vincent Meerabux, who said there was no case to answer. The Privy Council later criticised him for this “surprising” and “perhaps astonishing” decision, saying there was strong circumstantial evidence. Nonetheless, it ruled the decision could not be overturned and a re-trial ordered because in Bermuda there is no right of appeal by the prosecution following a finding by a judge of ‘no case to answer’ on the facts. An appeal can only be heard on a matter of law alone.

It is this issue that Mr. Barritt, a lawyer with Mello Jones and Martin, hopes to tackle through his proposed amendment to the law.

“This is not about re-visiting the Rebecca Middleton case, but it is about learning an important lesson from that particular case and re-capturing some of the reputation that was lost by that particular case. It’s not about having a re-trial — but that we learned something like that there ought to have been a right of appeal,” he told the House of Assembly.

Mr. Barritt told The Royal Gazette his proposed law change would see the Director of Public Prosecutions first make a decision whether to pursue an appeal. The Court of Appeal would then have to decide whether they ought to allow it. Asked whether the recommended change could see a fresh attempt by the DPP to get Smith re-tried, he said this was possible, but added: “I expect that the court might be reluctant to apply it retrospectively to cases prior to the amendment becoming law. There is a strong principle of law that when it comes to criminal matters, like for example the creation of new offences, or new criminal sanctions, they ought not to be applied retrospectively.”

Giving her view on the proposal, Mrs. Bennett said: “This could open up the possibility (of an appeal) in cases from now on, and that’s a good thing.”

After Junior Justice Minister Michael Scott opposed the law change on Friday night, Progressive Labour Party MPs succeeded in delaying a vote on it for six months. Mr. Barritt — who believes his proposal has some backers on the Government benches — reacted by accusing Government of attempting to “stifle” debate on the topic.

Mr. Scott had said the plan made dangerous inroads into the rights of defendants not to be unfairly pursued by the prosecuting authorities, describing them as “an egregious assault” on the double jeopardy principle which bans someone from being tried twice for the same crime.

As part of their campaign to get justice for Rebecca, the Middleton family argued at a Judicial Review hearing in April that although Bermuda’s laws also ban someone from being tried twice for murder, fresh charges of serious sexual assault, torture or kidnap could be considered against Mundy and Smith.

The bid was rejected by Chief Justice Richard Ground, but Rebecca’s father Dave Middleton and his lawyer Kelvin Hastings-Smith indicated they plan an appeal. Neither could be reached for comment yesterday.