Last night on 7NEWS, Director of Public Prosecutions Lutchman Sooknandan said that the murder case against Chayben Abou-Nehra (Bou-Nahra) fell apart when Abou-Nehra’s statement was lost. It’s because of that, he said, that the charge had to be reduced to manslaughter. And who lost it? Well Sooknandan says it is the police, through what he characterized as a deliberate act. That’s a strong charge and today the Leader of the Opposition went even further – he blamed the Minister of Home Affairs Ralph Fonseca. And more than just ultimate ministerial responsibility, Barrow says that in this case, there is added pressure, because Bou-Nahra has been a close associate of Ralph Fonseca’s political camp.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“The Commissioner of Police and ultimately the Minister of Home Affairs have a great deal of explaining to do as to that missing caution statement. The whole situation is compounded by the fact of the personal relationship between the Minister and the Minister’s son and Bou-Nehra. But that only further muddies the water. That only further adds sauce to the stew.
The basic principle is that friend or no friend, the Minister is responsible. That disappearance of the caution statement is such a serious occurrence that I would have expected that any Minister who has any sense of responsibility would have done far more to try to address the issue with the public to allay the concerns of the electorate that in fact a miscarriage of justice on this scale can always take place as long as the people that are involved have the right political connections.”
Responding to the comments of the DPP, Police Press Officer G. Michael Reid told us that the Police Department will not get into a back and forth with the DPP and in the best interest of justice the police will not even respond to his allegations.
