Privy Council to hear Good Samaritan murder appeal in October 2026

Two men convicted of murdering a couple who stopped to help them after a road accident in 2007 will have their appeal heard before the Privy Council, Jamaica's final court, on October 28 and 29, 2026. 

Pasmore Millings and Andre Ennis, who have been imprisoned since their convictions in June 2012 for the murders of Taiwo McKenzie and Janelle Whyte, were granted permission to appeal by Lords Lloyd-Jones, Lady Rose and Lord Richards on March 10, 2026.

The matter became known as the Good Samaritan case. 

The central question before United Kingdom-based Privy Council is whether the appellants' convictions and sentences are unsafe in circumstances where the prosecution's case rested on the evidence of an accomplice whose testimony was uncorroborated.

According to court records, McKenzie and Whyte were reported missing on November 7, 2007, and their bodies were found two days later in bushes at Mount Salus, St Andrew.

The prosecution's sole key witness was George Cooper, an accomplice who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and robbery in connection with the same incident. 

Cooper's account traced the origin of the tragedy to a road accident on November 6, 2007, in which a motorcycle ridden by Ennis and carrying Cooper collided with a car driven by McKenzie, noted the Privy Council’s summary of the case. 

McKenzie offered to cover the medical costs, drove the group to hospital, but later declined to pay for motorcycle repairs after police at the hospital discovered the motorcycle was not registered for road use.

Cooper testified at the trial that the following day, Ennis orchestrated a ruse to lure McKenzie to a meeting point, with Millings forcing Cooper at gunpoint to participate. McKenzie arrived with Whyte. Ennis then drove the group into the hills, where, Cooper said, Ennis and Millings took McKenzie and then Whyte separately into bushes carrying a knife-like object, and returned without them and the object now bloodied.

The trial judge directed the jury that Cooper's evidence was not corroborated by any independent evidence. The jury nonetheless convicted both men in 2012. 

Millings and Ennis were each sentenced to life imprisonment, with 50 years to serve before parole eligibility for Whyte's murder and 40 years for McKenzie's. 

In 2021, the Court of Appeal dismissed challenges to the convictions, describing the case as strong and crediting the outcome to good police work, the use of technology and the assistance of an accomplice. 

However, the court reduced the men's pre parole period from 50 years to 40 years, ruling that the original sentence was excessive despite the heinous nature of the crime.

The Court of Appeal upheld the convictions but reduced the sentences to 40 years. Both men's applications for leave to further appeal were refused before the Privy Council granted permission in March. 

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