Dana Seetahal. - A High Court judge has ordered the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to give an update within seven days on the status of the long-delayed Dana Seetahal murder trial.
On June 13, Justice Carol Gobin directed the DPP to say whether he plans to file an indictment and, if so, when, or if he intends to drop the case altogether.
The judge also ordered the DPP to give Earl Peters, one of the ten accused men, a written explanation for the delay in filing the indictment needed to start his trial. Peters must inform the court if the DPP fails to follow the order. He has until August to respond, and the matter was postponed to September 15.
Peters and another accused, Rajaee Ali, challenged the DPP's failure to move the case forward. They said no indictment has been filed, and no decision has been made about the prosecution of the case.
In an application filed on March 13, their attorneys, Criston J Williams and Aaron Lewis, argued that the nearly 10-year delay has violated their clients constitutional rights. They said the men had been held without trial, even though committal proceedings ended over four years ago in 2020.
The lawyers also said the DPPs failure to act goes against the Constitution, which allows the DPP to either continue or discontinue criminal cases. They noted that under the Indictable Offences (Committal Proceedings) Act (IOCPA), the DPP is expected to act within a reasonable time, which has not happened.
They also raised concerns about the DPPs lack of response to a Freedom of Information request filed in December 2024, which asked for updates on the case. Though the DPP acknowledged the request in January, no response has been given.
The lawyers said the delay was causing emotional and mental stress on the accused men and is making it harder for them to defend themselves in court.
Ten men were charged with Seetahals murder. In 2017, one of them Stephan Cummings was released from the murder charge after the DPP dropped the case against him. Instead, Cummings was charged with conspiracy to murder and agreed to testify for the state.
Seetahal, a former independent senator, was killed on May 4, 2014. She was shot while driving home in Woodbrook.
The DPP, Roger Gaspard SC, and the Judiciary had been in disagreement over document delivery in the case. Gaspard said the Judiciary sent electronic copies of the 8,100-page case file, but the law required hard copies. He argued that the documents could have been delivered in boxes in the three years it took to send the files electronically.
Others accused in the case include Rajaee Alis brothers, Ishmael and Hamid Ali, as well as Devaughn Cummings, Ricardo Stewart, Gareth Wiseman, Kevin Parkinson, Leston Gonzales, and Roget Boucher. Some of them also face separate gang-related charges.
