the State party's unwillingness or inability to provide legal aid for such motions and to the extreme difficulty of finding a Trinidadian lawyer who would represent an applicant pro bono on a constitutional motion. which has been enacted in many other Common Law countriesReference is made to the United Kingdom's Homicide Act 1957 which restricted the death penalty to the offence of capital murder (murder by shooting or explosion, murder done in the furtherance of theft, murder done for the purpose of resisting arrest or escaping from custody, and murders of police and prison officers on duty) pursuant to section 5 and murder committed on more than one occasion pursuant to section 6, has never been applied in Trinidad and Tobago. The law in Trinidad and Tobago does however contain provisions reducing the offence of murder to one of manslaughter in cases of murder committed with diminished responsibility or under provocation. It is argued that the stringency of the mandatory death penalty for murder is exacerbated by the Murder/Felony Rule which exists in Trinidad and Tobago and under which a person who commits a felony involving personal violence does so at his own risk, and is guilty of murder if the violence results even inadvertently in the death of the victim. The application of the Murder/Felony Rule, it is submitted, is an additional and harsh feature for secondary parties who may not have participated with the foresight that grievous bodily harm or death were possible incidents of that robbery. The Complaint 3.1 The author alleges to be a victim of a violation of article 9, paragraphs 2 and 3, as he was not informed of the charges against him until five days after his arrest and was not brought before a magistrate until six days after his arrest. Counsel cites the Covenant which requires that such actions be undertaken "promptly", and submits that the periods which lapsed in this case do not meet that test.1 3.2 The author claims to be a victim of a violation of article 14, paragraphs 3 (c) and 5, on the ground of undue delays in the proceedings against him. In this regard, counsel calls that it took 1) 21 months from the date on which the author was charged until the beginning of his first trial, 2) 38 months from the conviction until the hearing of his appeal, 3) 21 months from the decision of the Court of Appeal to allow his appeal until the beginning of the re-trial, 4) 27 months from the second conviction to the hearing of the second appeal, and 5) 26 months from the hearing of the second appeal until the reasoned judgement of the Court of Appeal was delivered. Counsel argues that there is no reasonable excuse as to why the re-trial took place some six years after the offence and why the Court of Appeal took a further four years and four months to determine the matter, and submits that the State party must bear the responsibility for this delay.2 3.4 It is submitted that given the wide variety of circumstances in which the crime of murder may be committed, a sentence which is indifferently imposed on every category of murder fails to retain a proportionate relationship between the circumstances of the actual crime and the punishment and therefore becomes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of article 7 of the Covenant. It is similarly submitted that article 6 was violated as imposing the death sentence irrespective of the circumstances was cruel, inhuman and degrading, and an arbitrary and disproportionate punishment which cannot justify depriving someone of the right to life. In addition, it is submitted that article 14, paragraph 1, was violated because the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago does not permit the author to allege that his execution is unconstitutional as inhuman or degrading or cruel treatment, and because it does not afford the right to a judicial hearing or a trial on the question whether the death penalty should be imposed or carried out for the particular murder committed. 3.3 The author claims to be a victim of violations of articles 6, 7, and 14, paragraph 1, on the ground of the mandatory nature of the death penalty for murder in Trinidad and Tobago. Counsel states that the distinction between capital and non-capital murder 1 Reference is made to the Committee's General Comment on article 9 (HRI/GEN/1/Rev. 3, 15 August 1997, pp 9 following), and to the jurisprudence of the Committee Communication No. 11/1977, Motta v. Uruguay; Communication No. 257/1987, Kelly v. Jamaica; Communication No. 373/1989, Stevens v. Jamaica; Communication No. 597/1994, Grant v. Jamaica. 3.5 Counsel submits that the imposition of the death penalty without consideration and opportunity for presentation of mitigating circumstances was particularly harsh in the author's case as the circumstances of his offence were that he was a secondary party to the killing and thus would have been considered less culpable. In this regard, counsel makes reference to a Bill to Amend the Offences Against the Persons Act which has been considered 2 Reference is made to the Committee's jurisprudence Communication No. 336/1988, Fillastre v. Bolivia; Communication No. 27/1978, Pinkney v. Canada; Communication No. 283/1988, Little v. Jamaica; Communication Nos. 210/1986 and 225/1987, Pratt and Morgan v. Jamaica; Communication No. 253/1987, Kelly v. Jamaica; Communication No. 523/1992, Neptune v. Trinidad and Tobago. 6