PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Jun 17, CMC – A High Court judge has given the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Roger Gaspard SC, a seven day deadline to provide an update on the status of the long-delayed murder trial of prominent attorney, Dana Seetahal, who was shot and killed during the early hours on May 4, 2014, after leaving a casino.
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.
She also ordered the DPP to give Earl Peters, one of the 10 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 along with another accused, Rajaee Ali, have challenged the DPP’s failure to have the case started, saying that 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 near 10-year delay has violated their client’s constitutional rights and that the accused have been held without trial, even though committal proceedings ended in 2020.
They also argue that the DPP’s failure to act goes against the Constitution, which allows the DPP to either continue or discontinue criminal cases. The lawyers say 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 DPP’s 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 has caused emotional and mental stress on the accused men and is making it harder for them to defend themselves in court.
In 2017, Stephan Cummings, one of the 10 men charged with Seetahal’s murder, 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.
Soon after her murder, then acting police commissioner, Stephen Williams told a news conference that the police wanted to give the public the assurance that they are “using all the available resources, internal and external, to ensure that we treat with this investigation as a number-one priority for the organisation, with the clear intention of pursuing it so vigorously that we can bring the perpetrators to justice in the shortest period of time.”
“All available resources will be assigned to this investigation. So if there is a need for 1,000 officers to be assigned and that is what is necessary, we assign 1,000 officers,” Williams said then.
A post-mortem revealed that Seetahal, who had also been a state legislator and former state prosecutor, died from shock and haemorrhaging caused by multiple gunshot wounds.
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