Christopher Sealey

Christopher Sealey, also called Christopher Bourne, confessed in front of his father, to the role he played in the kidnapping of US citizen, Balram (Balo) Maharaj.

In fact, his confession, or statement, came out of the blue. One minute, he was in the cell, next minute, he was saying he wanted to clear his name. The next minute, he was admitting his role in the crime. That confession was given to Jermaline Mitchell-Gosyne, 40, a member of the T&T Police Service for the past 14 years. Gosyne gave evidence before Judge John Bates in the Washington Federal Court on June 29 in the trial of seven Trinidadians, charged with taking Maharaj hostage. They were found guilty on July 31 and will be sentenced on February 12, 2010. Very early in her testimony, Gosyne said she was not involved in the early stages of the Maharaj kidnapping. “I was never actively assigned to work on the Balram Maharaj investigation. Prior to August 8, 2006, I never met Wayne Pierre, Jason Percival, Ricardo De Four, Leon Nurse, Anderson Straker, Zion Clarke, Kevon Demerieux, Russel Joseph, Kevin Nixon, Christopher Sealey, Winston Gittens, or Ricardo Stevenson. I had taken a statement from David Suchit.” (Suchit was extradited to the US in 2006, but he was acquitted by a jury and sent back to Trinidad in 2007). Gosyne said it was on August 8, 2006, she came into contact with Christopher Sealey at the Arouca Police Station.

She added, “Around 5 pm, I was walking along the corridor near the cell block and I heard Sealey call out. He was in a cell there. He asked me for a drink of water. I went and I got the drink of water and then he said ‘they are calling his name; if he can talk to me, they calling his name, he want to clear his name.” Gosyne said she stopped and cautioned Sealey. She said she went upstairs and spoke to Sgt Stanley Ramdeen who ordered that Sealey be brought upstairs to the office. She said a call was made and a Justice of the Peace, Asquith Clarke, arrived at the station.

Sometime later, Hugh David Sealey, father of the accused, also arrived at the station. He was invited into the room where his son was seated. Gosyne said the Justice of the Peace and the senior Sealey went into the room with the accused. They emerged five minutes later and Gosyne said she began to record a six-page statement. According to Gosyne, Sealey then admitted his role in the Maharaj kidnapping. He said, “In early January, a man come and check me and say he have some scene line up. He tell me how we go meet by Mellow Moods. When we reach there, everybody was there. We start to talk about the same man, like which bar he drink in, in El Socorro.

We drive around, and and I see the man inside the bar. I was given a gun. I went in the bar and I end up sticking up the man, me and another man. We took him to the car and we went up Santa Cruz and hand over to the man. I leave and went home and then the man come up the road by me in the night for the gun. The gun had no shots in it. It was a dummy gun. They were asking for $7 million. They tell me the Indian man (Balo) used to fight war in Vietnam or something like that, like they had their plan before.

I did not receive no money, I did not kill no man, and me eh take part in it,” the accused said in the statement. After the statement, the accused, the Justice of the Peace, and his father signed the document. Gosyne said she never threatened, or intimidated, the accused. Under cross-examination by Sealey’s Washington-based attorney, Patrick Donahue, Gosyne said the accused was concerned that people were calling his name in the kidnapping and he wanted to clear his name. Gosyne said Sealey really wanted to talk, to give his side of the story as to what happened. Donahue asked, “He did not clear his name?”

Before Gosyne could answer, Judge Bates shouted, “sustained”. Gosyne said she was not involved in Sealey’s arrest, but before she took the statement, she sought clearance from the lead investigator, Sgt Wendell Lucas. Gosyne said she did not know the FBI was involved in the investigations. She could not say who called and caused FBI agent, Marvin Freeman, to arrive at the police station that night.

TOMORROW: Marvin Freeman speaks about his visit to a police station