Dana PI resumes

AFTER a four-month lull, evidential hearings resumed on Tuesday in the preliminary inquiry into the murder of Dana Seetahal. No evidence was heard in the inquiry since April, as legal objections and applications for the recusal of presiding magistrate Indrani Cedeno were being heard.

On Monday, Cedeno ruled that she will not be stepping down from the case and instructed the prosecution to bring its witnesses. Testifying was a police officer involved in the murder investigation. The inquiry is expected to continue this week at the Hall of Justice on Knox Street.

The Port of Spain High Court is being used during the long-vacation break which comes to an end on Friday, after which the hearings will return to the Port of Spain Magistrates Court.

Also yesterday, Cedeno instructed the police to take accused Ricardo Stewart to the hospital after the hearings since he complained he was not getting treatment for his ailments at the prison.

Before the court on murder and gang related charges are former LifeSport coordinator Rajaee Ali his brothers Ishmael and Hamid Ali; Devaughn Cummings, Ricardo Stewart, Earl Richards, Kevin Parkinson, Leston Gonzales, Roget Boucher and Gareth Wiseman.

Ali’s wife Stacy Griffith is charged with a gang charge while Stephan Cummings, who was initially charged with murder, now faces a conspiracy to murder charge. He is on $200,000 bail for that charge. Seetahal was shot dead on May 4, 2014.