Did Corporal Ricardo De Four get a fair trial in Washington DC over the death of United States citizen Balram “Balo” Maharaj?
Not so, says his father, Hollis De Four, who retired as senior manager (special projects) at the Central Bank.

According to De Four, vital information which could have cleared his son of any involvement in the Maharaj kidnapping was not handed over by either the T&T Defence Force or the Ministry of National Security.
De Four, who was the Central Bank’s longest serving employee at retirement, said long before the start of the trial on May 26, his son’s lawyers had requested the information, but up to today, no information was provided. Ricardo De Four and civilians Zion Clarke, Kevon Demerieux, Anderson Straker, Wayne Pierre, Christopher Sealey and Kevin Nixon were found guilty by a jury before Judge John Bates in Washington DC on July 31. They face life in prison without parole when sentence is passed on February 12 next year.

Maharaj, 62, a Trinidadian, was kidnapped at the Samaan Tree bar in Aranguez on April 6, 2005. His remains were found in two containers in the Santa Cruz forest on January 8, 2006. The US government depended heavily on the testimony of former soldier, Jason Percival. But as far as Hollis De Four was concerned, Percival’s testimony changed with the moon. “I never believed Percival’s story, he kept changing it from Trinidad to Washington...He was a man who forgot to remember, and remembered to forget,” he said. De Four said he would never forget the day when his son was arrested. He said he went to the Barataria Police Station on January 27, 2006, where his son was detained in connection with Maharaj’s death.

He said: “I was never allowed to see him. I was absolutely shocked. That was not the son I knew. Based on what I knew of Ricky and his love for the army, and the people he was working with, he could not have been involved in kidnappings.” De Four said he was prevented from seeing his son. The first time he was able to see Ricardo was when he appeared in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court charged with murder. De Four said he used to go to the Golden Grove Prison to see his son but that was before he was extradited to the US to face trial for hostage-taking. “Up to this day, I am still surprised at the whole thing,” he said. “I sat in court and listened to what Percival said about Ricky’s involvement in kidnappings. I still cannot believe it.”

De Four said according to the interview notes taken by the police from his son while in custody, Ricardo was on duty at Camp Omega, Chaguaramas, and did not leave there until 4 pm. Based on what Ricardo told his attorneys, the soldier never left camp until 7 pm, although Percival said Ricardo was present when the kidnapping took place at 6.30 pm on April 6, 2005. According to De Four: “How was that possible? If he left camp in Chaguaramas at 7 pm, how could he be at Aranguez to kidnap Maharaj at 6.30 pm? That is where he needed the information to clear Ricky?”

De Four said he tried his best to get the information from the Defence Force, but everywhere he turned, he met a closed door.
US investigator Joseph Aronstamn came to Trinidad on three occasions with two of Richardo’s US attorneys—Joseph Beshouri and Jonathan Zucker—seeking the information, but all they got were promises.
In a document dated September 9, “Chronology of attempts to obtain documents in US v Ricardo De Four,” the investigator detailed dates of his unsuccessful attempts to get his client’s trial defence.
He wrote: “While in Trinidad (January 28), I spoke with personnel at various government agencies via telephone throughout the day, regarding obtaining documents related to Mr De Four. On the same day, US attorney Joseph Beshouri and I met with Camille Renie of the Legal Laison Office for the Ministry of National Security. We personally requested documents from her office. We were told that the TTDF had them and would produce them.”

On May 4, the investigator said he met with local attorney Keith Scotland and obtained a letter from him, requesting documents to be to sent to the Ministry of National Security. That letter, he added, was handed over to the same Camille Renie. The following day, Aronstamn and Zucker attempted to meet with Renie, but that was unsuccessful. They returned later in the day and met with Renie and asked for the documents. Again, they were told that the TTDF had them. On May 7, the investigator and Zucker returned to the Ministry of National Security but could see no one. Two further attempts were made the following day to meet with Ministry officials, but they were unsuccessful. Aronstamn stated on May 13: “It was becoming apparent to both Jon Zucker and myself that both the Ministry of National Security, and to a lesser degree, the TTDF, were either extremely slow in producing the documents and proceeding with an abundance of caution, or purposefully withholding valuable explanatory documents from us, and delaying their production to where they could not be fully utilised effectively by the defence.”
On June 18, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security responded to a request under the Freedom of Information Act for documents that would establish De Four’s whereabouts on April 6, 2005, the day Maharaj was kidnapped.

The letter stated in part: “Pleased be advised that your application is currently being processed. However, the retrieval and compilation of the requested data is not yet complete and therefore, the Ministry of National Security is unable to provide a response within the stipulated period. “In this regard, you are kindly asked to allow the Ministry time beyond the statutory limited of 30 days (under the Freedom of Information Act) to finalise your request. It is anticipated that a response would be provided by July 3, 2009.”
Aronstamn said he met with Renie again on July 3 and was informed that the documents were being processed. All this time, the trial was ongoing in Washington DC. When Ricardo De Four took the stand on July 15, he did not have the documents needed to give him a solid alibi.

What does Ricardo De Four need?
According to his father, the documents would detail his departure time from Camp Omega on April 6, 2005. The documents would also detail his whereabouts concerning three other kidnappings which Percival referred to at the trial. Percival said Ricardo was involved in the kidnapping of Dexter Jagdeo, Robin Ramadar and Sita Ragoonanan. De Four and his wife undertook the expense of flying to Washington DC and staying in a hotel ten minutes away from the court house so that they could sit in court every day of the two-month trial. He said lawyers indicated to the judge that they were having great difficulty obtaining the information from the Trinidadian authorities. De Four said Judge Bates was extremely patient, allowing the defence time to acquire the information.
But all is not lost. De Four said the defence has until October 15 to make submissions and produce the documents.

He said: “I have not lost hope at all. I still feel we can get the documents which could prove that Ricky was at work when they say he was involved in the kidnapping. Ricky did not get a fair trial, because he was not able to produce his defence. Maybe we could still get the documents to save him.” What could happen if he receives the documents at this time? De Four said: “Ricky’s lawyer said if we get the documents, we can move to have a retrial. And, a retrial will be great for him, because he will have his alibi.”
De Four said from the moment his son was arrested, the prosecution wanted him as a witness.

“Why would he be a witness when he kept saying he was innocent?” he said. “He knew nothing about this, he has maintained his innocence right through. What was significant, was that myself and other members of the family were there in Washington to give him support. We also wanted to experience a conspiracy trial in the US.
“I always believed in the fairness of the system, that citizens would be protected. It is beyond me, that here we have someone seeking his employee records to prove his innocence, and an excuse was given that because it was national security, he could not get them. Here was a man who protected the State, who protected former President Arthur NR Robinson, who drove former Minister of National Security Howard Chin Lee, and who provided services for persons like Brian Lara. “They have nothing bad to say about Ricky. We had absolute trust in the system until now.”

More tomorrow