High Court Denies Convicted Child Killer’s Appeal

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Convicted child killer Kofhe Goodman’s fight for his freedom has come to an end. The country’s highest court has denied him a last chance to appeal against his conviction and 55-year sentence for the murder of 11-year-old Marco Archer.

The Privy Council dismissed Goodman’s application because it said “The proposed appeal is devoid of merit and has no prospect of success.”

The 47-year-old has been tried twice for Marco’s murder.

Marco was last seen alive on September  23, 2011, when he left his home on Brougham Street to go to a shop in his neighborhood.

A frantic search for the missing child ended tragically on September 28th when Marco’s badly decomposed body was found behind the townhouse complex where Goodman lived on Yorkshire street.

Marco’s naked body was wrapped in a floral flat sheet that matched the fitted sheet found on the bed in Goodman’s room. 

His clothing,  underwear, and slippers were found in a garbage in front of the complex.

Marco’s and Goodman’s DNA was found on the clothing.

Prosecutors argued that Goodman kidnapped Marco with the intention of sexually abusing him, and he killed him with a blow to the back of the head when Marco resisted.

Goodman was first convicted of Marco’s murder in august 2013 and sentenced to death in October of the same year.

However, in September 2016, the court of appeal overturned the conviction and sentence due to pre-trial publicity and the conduct of defense counsel.

Goodman was convicted for a second time on May 30, 2017.

At a sentencing hearing on May 7, 2018, Goodman was sentenced to 55 years in prison. However, the sentence was reduced to 48 years after taking into account the seven years that Goodman had spent on remand.

The Court of Appeal dismissed goodman’s challenge to his conviction and sentence on June 14, 2021.