Loading ...A case against four young men in their teens, who are currently facing a murder charge, came to an abrupt end yesterday at the High Court, following two successful Voir Dires.
Lawyer Alberton Richelieu questioned whether a witness properly fingered his client
Justice Kenneth Benjamin discharged the jury, after he upheld submissions made by Alberton Richelieu and Sean Innocent.
The young men were being tried for the murder of 17-year-old Daniel Dumaz. The incident occurred on April 26, 2005. Attorneys, Colin Foster and Al Elliot were also representing two of the accused men, respectively.
According to the facts presented by Prosecutor Robert Innocent, Dumaz died of a gunshot wound that entered the back of his head. The prosecution’s case was based mainly on circumstantial evidence.
Innocent said four witnesses are of particular importance to this case. It is with the evidence of one of those witnesses that the defense had a bone of contention.
That witness stated that he saw one of the defendants pulling a gun from underneath his shirt.
Richelieu strongly objected. He indicated that his client could have been mistaken, since the investigating officer did not hold an identification parade. Justice Benjamin upheld the submission.
Richelieu sited several authorities to back up his points.
Sean Innocent also made a submission citing that given the fact that the judge has rule that the Voir Dire was successful, the prosecution was in error in leading evidence regarding any of the 4 accused men and hereby it was highly prejudicial to seek to elicit evidence, implicating any of the accused men.
That submission was also accepted by the judge.
RSS
ok …then the killings will go on as usual……why the gov dont get foster or alberton to work with the prosecution ? the amount of cases going down the tubes vigilante killings will only continue……help!
The Justice system continue to fail us as usual, when will the Police get it right ? Lord, if you cannot put a hand at least put a finger please.
I am a St Lucian residing in the US and is getting ready to retire. I will earn roughly $1950 US a momth after retirement. I was planning to return to St Lucia and pass the the experience I have gained in the field of computer technology and marketing to the youhg people of my birth country, but I am afraid… I am for real… When I am in St Lucia I do not feel safe…I feel safer in Brooklyn.
This Island has a populatiom of 170,000 and is not that much larger than Queens New York and with 18 murders in 7 months and countimg, this is outragious.. It is scary…
The Police Department is near all corrupt.
The Politicians of both parties UWP and SLP have no statesmen, they all have a huge appetite for votes.
The Defence Attorneys are imprudent, their ultimate concerns are profits and enhancing their resumes.
The friends and relatives of the accused offenders antagonize and threaten prospective witnesses.
The Police, politicians, reckless lawyers, relatives and friends of the law breakers all contribute to the demise in the quality of life in :Simply Beautiful,” leaving the victims and their families powerless while asissting the bad guys beat and get-over the Justice System of St Lucia.
“Murderers walking the Streets.”
This sounds like the title to a movie? no it is not, this is Simply Beautiful.
I think I will remain right here in the States…I am even thinking of not spending my next vacation in this little place of horrors I use to call home and loved so much.
July 16, 2009 10:59 AM
You are so right when u talk about how my paradise St.Lucia has been infested with crime. I feel safer her in Brooklyn than in SLU. I get out at 5 in the morning to exercise in Prospect Park and there’s no way in hell i will ever do that in SLU.. Me too planning on coming home for Christmas ….but scared… but that will not stop me at all
These young boys are simply ”following fashion” as we St Lucians would say. The series of crimes that have unfolded are acts to prove who is bad and who can ”buss guns”. It is not so much the wrath of poverty or unemployment but simply a show. Indeed our judicial system has failed because these boys should be used as examples to all out there with ill intentions.
I lived at Ciceron and one morning about 4am I was awakened by a raucous, discovering that the police had come to take a van-load of children in questioning for a missing gun. I had never seen anything like this and was stunned to see children of about 9 years and above, boys and girls in the back of that police van. One of the parent’s kept asking her son for the gun but she was only doing this in vain. That morning I learned that these children of all ages were hauled from different homes.
My questions are: What were these young children doing with a firearm??
Where are their parents??
Obviously it all boils down to parenting. If most of these parents were more stern with their children then they would have more control over them and less incidents like this. Parents nowadays have become too lenient because back in the day if you came home from school with something that wasn’t yours, after getting a good beating you would have to bring it back to its owner.
What are teenage boys doing with guns? Parents need to be more firm with their children and lead by example. They are largely to be blamed for juvenile delinquents.
What happend to this beautiful Island of ours? When I was growing up, everyone, was happy, even if you had no money, everyone was safe, even if you had no burglar bars, everyone could eat, even if you had no jobs, everyone could see a doctor or buy medications even if you were unemployed. Walking the streets, was no problem.
Now, everything is CRAZY. We are too involved in one another’s business, who has what!! or the most expensive. We gossip too much!! We have too much time on our hands. We talk about one another, when we all do the same thing. Some show their true colors, others in the closet. Politicians/government, are getting richer. (THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THEIR POCKETS, TALK, TALK AND NO ACTION!!! WASTING OUR TIME!!! THEY DON’T GIVE A DAMM!!
People are dying young. What are the politicians/government doing about, our health. If you don’t have insurance, or a job etc., “SIX FEET DEEP” The cost of living is sky high. Don’t ask for the food!!
PEOPLE, open our eyes! Think of our Island, our children, our future. Stand together, unite, if not, there will be no ST. LUCIA.
INSTEAD OF GOSSIPING, put our heads together. We go to church, and after church, the devil returns in us. When you go to church, practice what you have learned.
I don’t care who disagrees with me. I am speaking the truth.
I am afraid to visit my country with my child!! Too much is too much. Soon there will be no tourist coming to St. Lucia !!!
ST. LUCIANS GROW UP. STOP THE GOSSIPING, AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!
I think that the police should go to the homes of those kids when they are arrested for guns and drugs dealing. there is no way a kid will be bad and not have any weapon hidden somewhere. How can our paradise continue to be called paradise when we st lucians are always quick to judge the work of the police? when something happens we are too quick to know the answer before asking the question. We as parents should have total control over our kids and not think that at 17 years our kids are adults and should go out into the world to work because we are tired of buying books. what should we expect from a young person leaving school with not formal education, and can’t get a job .
WE ARE GOING TOHAVE TO TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK AND SEND A MESSAGE TO CRIMINALS THAT THEY ARE NOT ABOVE THE LAW NOW THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM SHOULD NOT ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE MANIPULATED BY LAWYERS AND BE AWARE WHEN LAWYERS TRY AND THROW CURVE BALLS AT THEM IF PEOPLE SAW THEM DOIT AND THE INFORMATION IS CONCRETE JSTCIE SHOULD BE SERVED IKE 75YEARS IN PRISONS WITH OUT PAROLE DID SOME ONE SAY THE GALLOWS WAS REOPENING BECAUSE THE MINUTE THEY START SENDING A FEW TO THE GALLOWS THE CRIME RTE IS SURE TO DROP REMEMBER 1994 SOLOMON THE CRIME RAE DROPPED RAPID
i agree with troubled citizen…why we don’t get some of the best criminal lawyers to start prosecuting some of these cases..look how the last government used to hire ASTAFAN EVERY TWO MINUTES!..This government can pick from Richelieu,Marcus,Innocent,or Lorne…(not money that make the mare fly???)
DO A TING KING!!!
so sad that instead of finding a solution as a nation, and trying to improve the lives of your lucian people, some of you are quick to speak negativiely of your birth country….i wonder what will happen if /when America gets tired of your asses, or if immig laws change, or if you commit an unintentional illegal act and your adoptive country sends you back to that place of your birth that disgusts you so much now that you have found an adopted homeland..what would you do then? SOOOO SOOOO SAD, ST LUCIA WILL NEVER TURN IT’S BACK ON YOU LIKE YOU DID…..get $$ together, open youth centers, keep youths busy, set up silent protests, shut down the streets, demand change from the gov, organize youth clubs, set up athletic clubs, invest in your homland, afterall it made you teh person you are today…
Couldn’t have said it better Caribbean Gurl.
Plus or minus a punctuation mark here and there.