The Attorney General, William Bailhache , is taking the rare step of contesting the Court of Appeal’s decision to reduce the conviction to one of manslaughter.
The Privy Council is the highest British Court for Commonwealth countries and dependencies.Mr Bailhache will argue that Holley’s alcoholism should not have been a factor in the jury’s deliberations as to his guilt.
Sixty-year-old Holley killed his lover, Cherylinn Mullane, at her home in Elysée Estate in April 2000.
He repeatedly struck her with an an axe in a frenzied attack.
Both the killer and his victim were chronic alcoholics and there was a history of violence between them.The case will be heard today by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which sits in Downing Street.
Mr Bailhache will be applying for special leave to appeal which, if granted, will lead to a full hearing later this year.If Mr Bailhache is ultimately successful it could help set a precedent for British and Commonwealth murder trials.
