Has newly appointed acting DPP taken on a Mission Impossible?” The STAR posed this question back on October 8, 2016. That same week, National Security Minister Hermangild Francis announced the appointment of attorney Daarsrean Greene as the new Director of Public Prosecutions. The position had been vacant for several months following the angry departure of Victoria Charles Clarke. Greene was officially sworn in on October 17, for a 12-month term; he has since been reappointed. At the time the security minister had listed areas of concern, among them IMPACS, the Lambirds Academy saga, and a backlog of cases. Since then, more concerns have arisen.
March 21 this year marked two years since the deadly quarry explosion at Cul de Sac that claimed the lives of four individuals and left many with life-changing injuries. Two months following the incident in 2017, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions acknowledged receipt of a report on the explosion. That same month, Prime Minister Allen Chastanet said he was disappointed that resolution of the matter had not been realized, noting, “This is obviously something that’s very painful to the family members involved.” He promised pressure would be applied in hopes of arriving at a swift conclusion. For his part, Hermangild Francis told reporters the government was very serious about getting to the bottom of what happened at Cul de Sac, but there should not be a rush to judgment. Since then, the silence has been deafening.
During an interview on Tuesday, May 7 Francis indicated that he had not spoken in five months to the DPP about the explosion. As far as he knew, Greene is still in the process of determining what to do, whether there is sufficient evidence to carry out a criminal prosecution.
“I think the matter has taken a long time and we need to come to a conclusion,” Francis added. The security minister nevertheless remains confident in the capabilities of DPP Greene. He said: “I think that when the time is right for him to make decisions, he will make them. The Constitution affords him absolute discretion as to how he conducts his affairs.” –
