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The Court of Appeal on Friday gave its reasons for dismissing the appeal of a convicted killer, after a trial that had retired Senior Superintendent of Police Reneto Adams as its sole witness.Christopher Denton was in 2016 found guilty of the daring daylight murder of a man on the Thompson Pen main road in Spanish Town.On April 7, 2016, Denton, following a trial before a judge and jury in the Home Circuit Court, was found guilty on an indictment charging him with the offence of murder. On May 26, 2016, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with the stipulation that he serves 20 years before becoming eligible for parole.Denton, who denied being involved in committing the offence during the trial, claimed that Adams was motivated by malice and gave false evidence against him. In June he filed an application for leave to appeal his conviction and sentence. That application, when considered by a single judge of appeal on May 11, 2020, was refused. Denton, however, sought to renew his application before a full panel of the Appeal Court.Following that hearing in March of this year, the court ordered that the appeal was refused and that Denton's sentence is to be regarded as having began on May 26, 2016. It then promised to put its reasons in writing.In the judgement handed down on October 15, the court addressed arguments by the defence that Denton did not receive a fair trial because the trial judge failed to give the jury direction[s] on how to treat with the evidence adduced on behalf of two other whose depositions were read into evidence and that the judge kept referring to the evidence of the absent witnesses as their sworn evidence and further raised issues relating to credibility and identification.The Appeal Court, however, in its ruling said, "in the present circumstances, the learned trial judge sufficiently assisted the jury as to how to treat with the evidence"."A general direction was given to the jury that in assessing credibility, they would need to consider: the age and ability of the witness and their ability to express themselves. They were also directed that they could accept all that a witness had said, reject all or accept some and reject the rest," the court ruled. It also said, "the learned trial judge's directions in respect of the applicant's unsworn statement were impeccable".The court further said, "the failure of the Crown to present the post-mortem report as direct evidence of the cause of the deceased's death was not, in our view, fatal to the conviction"."There was sufficient evidence from which the jury could infer that the deceased died as a result of the gunshot wounds inflicted by the applicant. The trial judge's directions on this aspect of the case could not be faulted and as such, we agreed that this ground of appeal was unlikely to succeed," it added.As it related to the prison term handed down, the court said "the sentence imposed by the Court, was, in our view, within the normal range of sentences imposed for the offence of murder and could by no means be considered to be manifestly excessive"."There was therefore, no basis on which it could have been disturbed," it stated.In its conclusion, the Appeal Court pointed out that, "the learned trial judge correctly advised the jury of the role that they were to play in assessing the guilt of the applicant. She also pointed out that identification and credibility were central issues in the trial and reminded them more than once that Senior Superintendent Adams was the sole eyewitness. They were also instructed that conflicts could arise in the evidence by way of inconsistencies, discrepancies and omissions and given examples of those areas of the evidence where such conflicts may have arisen"."Her directions in relation to identification, credibility, malice and good character could not be faulted. Accordingly, we saw no merit in the grounds of appeal advanced by the applicant," it ended.Evidence led during the trial alleged that on April 7, 2006 two armed men including Denton chased Devon Francis ('the deceased'), along the Thompson Pen main road in Spanish Town.During the chase, they fired their weapons at him. At one point, the deceased fell on his face and the two men went over his body and fired several shots at him resulting in his death. Retired Superintendent Renato Adams, who at the time of the incident was a senior superintendent of police and was on the day in question driving his private motor car along the roadway, testified that he saw the incident and recognised one of the men who was firing as Denton, who was also called "Bigger Chris".Adams said that he had known him for approximately eight years before the incident and had last seen and spoken with him two months before. He stated that, at one point, the deceased fell on his face and he observed that he was bleeding from his back. The two men then went over to the deceased and fired several shots at him.The now retired law enforcer said he heard the deceased say "'Bigger Chris', 'Bigger Chris' wey yuh a shoot mi up fah, wha mi do yuh?".Adams said he drew his pistol, exited his motor car and shielded himself behind the door of the said car. He said he shouted to the two other men who were about 10 yards away, "Police, police".In response, Adams continued, both men looked in his direction and fired shots. The witness fired in their direction and they both ran through a lane.Adams said he drove onto Spanish Town Road in pursuit of the men. He stated that he subsequently saw them coming from the lane which led onto Spanish Town Road. They both had guns in their hands and the deceased was in front of the other men. The witness said he then alighted from his car, pulled his pistol and shouted "Police, police don't move", whereupon Denton opened fire at him and eventually escaped.Adams said he made a report and left the scene. He said that he gave a written statement to the police about a month after the incident.