Updated: 3 men freed of murder after decade in prison

A DECADE after they were charged for three murders, three Diego Martin men were yesterday freed by a High Court judge after another judge quashed the indictments against them.

There were shouts of joy when Chris Durham, Ian Sandy and Deon Calliste emerged from the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain free men. They immediately went into the arms of jubilant relatives.

Freedom came after Justice Avason Quinlan-Williams, hours earlier in the San Fernando High Court, held that the failure of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to “forthwith discontinue” prosecution against the three was “unreasonable, improper and unfair.”

She quashed the indictments for the murders of Mentie Murai, Mubarak Z. Calder and Kevon St Louis which were alleged to have occurred on April 21, 2009. The three accused were later ordered freed by Justice Devan Rampersad in the Hall of Justice where they were on trial.

Calliste, breathed deeply outside the Hall of Justice and said it was a glorious day. He said freedom came after ten long years of him trying to prove his innocence. “It was long and hard,” he admitted.

As they thanked their attorneys Gerald Ramdeen – who argued the civil case for them – and their defence attorneys Wayne Sturge, Mario Merritt, Hasine Shaikh, Alexia Romero, Karunaa Bisramsingh and Danielle Rampersad, the three had a message for the public: “Please don’t feel everything allyuh hear about men charged for this and that, is true.”

Calliste said there were many others in prison wrongfully charged for crimes they did not commit. “Today is my victory. They can’t hold me any longer. Is freedom,” he said. To those still incarcerated wrongly on remand, Callister said “Allyuh time coming soon. Continue to pray, continue to fast and pay allyuh attorneys.”

Ramdeen said the men’s freedom was significant as it was the first time in the Commonwealth that the prosecutorial discretion of the DPP was found to be unfair and unreasonable by a High Court. “This is a serious matter,” he said.

The men were on trial before Rampersad and a jury had already been empanelled. On May 17, the prosecutors in the case raised with the judge “serious concerns they had about the legality, fairness and lawfulness of the continuation of the trial against the accused persons,” and disclosed to one of the defence lawyers the serious concerns he (the prosecutor) had.

On May 23, notes of briefing between the two prosecutors and their only witness against the three, O’Neil Benjamin, were disclosed.

Benjamin told prosecutors Krishna Jaglal and Shabaana Shah that his statement to police and his evidence at the preliminary inquiry were lies. He said he lied because it “was all part of his plan for the good of the community,” and “he did what he had to do at the time to bring a level of peace in the community of Diego Martin.”

Benjamin also admitted he did not see the three accused men on the day of the murders and that after he gave his statements, which led to them being locked up, “there was a calm restored in the community.”

He also said he was thanked for what he did, and maintained he did so “for the good of the community which had been experiencing a lot of violence and shooting from warring factions at the time.” Benjamin told prosecutors he was prepared to commit perjury at the trial.

Benjamin, who painted himself as a vigilante hero, was also charged with one of the men who died for the arson of the house of Calliste’s relative. He claimed he was one of the people responsible for the fire and worked as an informant for the police.

Despite Benjamin’s claims, the case against the three was not discontinued and they filed a judicial review claim challenging the DPP’s decision to continue the trial.

In her ruling, Quinlan-Williams expressed her disappointment that the DPP had not provided any explanation to the three and to the court for his reason to pursue the trial.

“It is the court’s view that the peculiar circumstances of this case coupled with the DPP’s constitutional powers, required an explanation to be given on the DPP’s decision to continue with the prosecution of the accused persons,” she said, as she added, “the evidence has satisfied the court that the DPP’s decision was not fairly and justly made.”

At the hearing before Rampersad, assistant DPP Angelica Teelucksingh-Ramoutar at first attempted to persuade the judge to grant an adjournment. She said the order by Quinlan-Williams to quash the indictment, was given by a junior judge in a matter that was before a senior criminal judge.

She said the order could be viewed as interference of the court’s jurisdiction. After Ramdeen told Rampersad he no longer had jurisdiction over the case since the indictment was quashed, Teelucksingh-Ramoutar said the State will deal with the issue at appeal.

Speaking afterwards, Ramdeen said the case called into question the manner in which prosecutions are taking place and called for investigation into same.

This story was originally published with the title "DPP was wrong, three freed of murder" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

A DECADE after they were charged for three murders, three Diego Martin men were this afternoon freed by a High Court judge after another judge quashed the murder indictments against them.

The freedom of Chris Durham, Ian Sandy and Deon Calliste, came after Justice Avason Quinlan-Williams, this morning in the San Fernando High Court, held that the failure of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to “forthwith discontinue” the prosecution against them was “unreasonable, improper and unfair.”

She quashed the indictments against the three for the murders of Mentie Murai, Mubarak Z. Calder and Kevon St. Louis which were alleged to have occurred on April 21, 2009. They were later ordered freed by Justice Devan Rampersad in the Port of Spain High Court where they were on trial.

As they thanked their attorneys Gerald Ramdeen – who argued the civil case for them – and their defence attorneys Wayne Sturge, Mario Merritt, Hasine Shaikh, Alexia Romero, Karunaa Bisramsingh, and Danielle Rampersad, they had a message for the public: “Please don’t feel everything allyuh hear about men charged for this and that is true.”

Calliste said there were many other men in prison facing a similar situation of being wrongfully charged for crimes they did not commit.

“Today is my victory. They can’t hold me any longer. Is freedom,” he said and his message to his former inmates who are on remand, “Allyuh time coming soon. Continue to pray and continue to fast and pay allyuh attorneys.”

Ramdeen said the men’s freedom was significant as it was the first time in the Commonwealth that the prosecutorial discretion of the DPP was found to be “unfair and unreasonable” by a High Court.

“This is a serious matter,” he said.