PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Monday July 27, 2015 – Eleven men have been charged with the murder of senior attorney Dana Seetahal, following a probe that the lead investigator admitted was the most challenging case of his career.
As early as yesterday, arrangements were being made for Rajaee Ali, his brother Hamid Ali, Davough Cummings, Ishmael Ali, Ricardo Stewart, Earl Richards, Stephan Cummings, Gareth Wiseman, Kevin Parkinson, Leston Gonzales and Roget Boucher to appear in the Port of Spain Magistrate’s Court this morning, 18 months after Seetahal was killed.
Parts of the one-way street on which the court is located were blocked off and members of the public who have no business at the court have been advised to stay away.
“We have made the requisite arrangements for security and so on with respect to the appearance of these men on that day. So members of the public minded to arrive in droves at the court will be met by a stringent security barricade, and this is especially for persons coming into court for no apparent reasons,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenn Hackett said yesterday at a televised press conference where the charges were announced.
Hackett, who was also the lead investigator in the case, said the matter stood out as the most challenging one he had ever worked on.
Seetahal was killed around 12:05 a.m. on May 4, 2014 as she was driving home from a casino. She was shot multiple times. According to police, residents heard several gunshots and then the sound of screeching tyres before discovering Seetahal dead in the driver’s seat of her SUV.
Police used wire-tapping to gather evidence in the case that led to the arrest of several people, including Jamaat al Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr who was subsequently released without charge.
“Apart from employing in the investigation new techniques we have been exposed to, what became our greatest challenge was coordinating and synchronizing the technological aspect of this investigation,” said Hackett, who also thanked the officers and agencies who assisted with the investigation.
“We had to seek help from international law enforcement agencies in putting together a coherent and cohesive technological case with respect to the charges laid against those persons.”
Even with almost a dozen people now charged with the crime, Hackett said if any further evidence is revealed that points to the culpability of other people, the case would be reopened and “we will . . . see whether the evidence is of prosecutorial quality”.
Meantime, one of the 11 murder accused, Rajaee Ali, has also been charged under the Anti-Gang legislation with being a gang leader.
His co-accused have been charged with being members of a gang, along with three others – Dion Peters, David Hector, and Stacy Griffith, one of Ali’s wives.
Griffith, whose continued detention had sparked a confrontation between police and members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen last Thursday night, will answer an additional charge of committing an act for the benefit of a gang.
Meantime, Seetahal’s brother Omar Seetahal has questioned whether his sister’s case was being used to boost the image of the police service.
“When I looked at the news briefing, a good half of the briefing was spent by the Deputy Commissioner of Police praising various departments of the police force and thanking them for their help in the matter, talking about how hard they worked and all that, as though the matter has been solved and they have gotten a conviction,” he told the Trinidad Express newspaper.
“They talked about how competent they were in this matter and how complex this matter was and how they had to use modern cutting-edge technology to solve this matter. I find that a little odd that they are acting like the matter has now come to a conclusion.”
He also suggested that the men charged had no reason to want to kill his sister.
Police have declined to disclose what motive they uncovered for Seetahal’s murder, saying it would emerge in court.
Source: http://www.caribbean360.com
