Threats not related to Dana case

THE magistrate being asked to step down from presiding over the Dana Seetahal murder inquiry, says threats relayed to her via text messages from the prosecution, were not significant nor were they related to the case.

Senior magistrate Indrani Cedeno yesterday sought to correct the record on communication between herself and the prosecution in November and in May.

At a sitting in one of the courtrooms at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, Cedeno made it clear she initiated the process of disclosure.

She was asked to disclose details of her communication with the prosecution by the lawyer of the two men who are asking her to step down from the case, on the ground of apparent bias. The application was made by attorney Criston J Williams last month, after he complained that the magistrate failed to immediately disclose to the defence that she communicated with the prosecution on two occasions in November and May, on the threats.

Williams said based on what has taken place, it is clear the magistrate must recuse herself. Williams represents alleged gang leader Rajaee Ali and Earl Richards, at the inquiry. The attorneys for the other accused have said they saw no need for the magistrate to step down.

In her explanation yesterday, Cedeno said the reason the messages were not communicated in court when an in-Chamber hearing was held on June 1, was because she did not consider them to be significant or of importance to the Seetahal inquiry.

She also said she did not think they were related or connected to the on-going inquiry, but one of her part-heard matters in the Arima Magistrates Court.

Her previous and only other communication with the prosecution was in November, when she received an instruction from acting Chief Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle to contact one of the prosecutors in the inquiry. Cedeno said she acted on the instruction and this was when she was first told of the threats.

This is the second time a magistrate presiding over the inquiry has been asked to step down. Former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in January 2016, also stepped down after a similar application was made by the defence and supported by the prosecution. She agreed and was replaced by Cedeno.

Her decision to step down came after she was informed by the then Criminal Gang and Intelligence Unit (CGIU), which was instrumental in the investigation in Seetahal’s murder, that there was a threat against her life. Security was also increased for Ayers-Caesar and officers of the CGIU were briefly assigned to her security detail.

Also charged with Seethal’s murder are Devaughn Cummings, Ishmael Ali, Ricardo Stewart, Gareth Wiseman, Hamid Ali, Kevin Parkinson, Leston Gonzales and Roget Boucher. Seetahal was shot dead behind the wheel of her SUV while driving along Hamilton Holder Street, Woodbrook, on May 4, 2014, as she was returning home from an Ariapita Avenue casino.