Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
The Judiciary has claimed that it is not responsible for delays in setting a trial for 10 men accused of murdering former independent senator Dana Seetahal, SC.
Speaking with Guardian Media on the eve of the tenth anniversary of Seetahal’s murder on Friday, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, SC, claimed that his office was awaiting the Judiciary to send the committal bundle from the concluded preliminary inquiry in the case for indictments to be filed against the group.
Gaspard’s claim over the issue was challenged by the Judiciary in a press release issued yesterday evening. It said, “The Judiciary wishes to correct the assertion.”
The Judiciary added, “Due to its size, the committal bundle in the case of The State vs Rajaee Ali and others, which contains over 8100 pages, was sent to the Office of the DPP via file transfer protocol (FTP) in three parts, on December 20, December 21, 2023, and January 5, 2024.”
Guardian Media reached out to Gaspard to comment on the Judiciary’s statement but did not receive a response up to late yesterday.
For a case to be listed for trial in the High Court, an indictment must first be filed by the DPP’s Office. Before the proclamation of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act 2011 in December last year, indictments were filed after accused people were committed to stand trial at the end of a preliminary inquiry before a magistrate.
Under the newly proclaimed legislation, preliminary inquiries were replaced with sufficiency hearings before High Court Masters. While in both preliminary inquiries and sufficiency hearings, judicial officers consider whether the evidence before them is enough to take the case to trial, the latter is intended to be significantly quicker, as the former procedure usually spanned years and sometimes took longer to complete than an eventual trial.
Delivering his annual address at the opening of the 2020/2021 Law Term in October 2020, Chief Justice Ivor Archie took issue with the fact that only 12 indictments were filed by the DPP’s Office during the previous law term. Archie stated that through improvements in the Judiciary’s court reporting and transcription department, the Judiciary was able to eliminate its long-standing delay in providing transcripts for the indictments to the DPP’s Office. “It can’t be that,” Archie said.
In a response at the time, Gaspard apologised to citizens and sought to give a detailed explanation. Gaspard claimed that it was due to several factors, including perennially short staffing, limited office space, institutional and systemic adjustments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Judiciary’s unilateral decision to rely solely on electronic filing.
He indicated that Archie’s suggestion that the filing rate was directly responsible for the near collapse of the criminal justice system was spectacularly disingenuous and misleading, as his office has filed between 150 and 300 indictments annually over the past decade. “Additionally, to suggest, even obliquely, that the small number of indictments filed is a significant contributor to the criminal justice system being brought to a state of ‘near collapse,’ is to deliberately close one’s eyes to the blinding light of the statistics on matters still awaiting trial,” Gaspard said.
Seetahal was shot dead behind the wheel of her SUV while driving along Hamilton Holder Street in Woodbrook on May 4, 2014. On July 25, 2015, Rajaee Ali, his brothers Ishmael and Hamid Ali, Devaughn Cummings, Ricardo Stewart, Earl Richards, Stephan Cummings, Kevin Parkinson, Leston Gonzales, Roget Boucher, and Gareth Wiseman were charged with the crime. Ali’s wife, Stacy Griffith, Deon Peters, and David Ector were charged under the Anti-Gang Act for being members of a gang, while Griffith was additionally charged with assisting the gang.
The gang charges were initially dismissed based on the fact that they were laid indictably (heard and determined by a High Court judge and jury), as opposed to summarily (heard and determined by a magistrate), as required for first-time offenders under the legislation. The issue resulted in Peters and Ector being freed. Griffith remained before the court as she was slapped with the additional charge that was properly laid. Griffith’s charge for assisting the gang has since been discontinued by the DPP’s office.
The Court of Appeal eventually reversed the decision and effectively reinstated the charges for being members of a gang. As Ector was murdered in July 2018, only Peters was rearrested and recharged with the offence. In December 2017, the murder charge was discontinued against Stephan Cummings, and he was charged with conspiracy to murder after being made a state witness. The preliminary inquiry was completed in July 2020, with all ten men being committed to stand trial.
In a statement issued on Friday, Seetahal’s relatives, colleagues, and friends expressed disappointment and frustration over the accused men still awaiting trial. “We call for a swift and transparent trial to commence, providing the closure that her family and loved ones so rightfully deserve. Anything less would be an injustice not only to Dana Seetahal’s memory but to the ideals of justice and fairness that she championed throughout her life,” the statement said.
The family added that Seetahal was not only a prominent and respected person in the legal field but a beacon of integrity who tirelessly advocated for justice and the rule of law. “Her untimely demise sent shockwaves through the nation, shaking the very foundation of our legal system and sparking widespread outrage. Yet, despite a decade passing since her senseless murder, justice continues to elude us,” the family said.