Two years after former Independent senator Dana Seetahal, SC, was murdered her friends and colleagues are still perplexed as to the reason for her brutal assassination.
Speaking at a ceremony to commemorate the two-year anniversary of her death at his Port-of-Spain office yesterday, Senior Counsel Israel Khan called on other lawyers to continue to be vigilant in protecting the administration of justice.
“Even though we still do not know why she was assassinated we have to carry on. If we chose to be coward and drop out of the case that would be the beginning of the end of our society,” Khan said.
Khan, who worked with Seetahal in the ongoing Vindra Naipaul-Coolman murder trial before her death, said despite being assigned a police security detail after Seetahal’s killing he still felt unsafe.
“We are grateful to the security given to us by the State but we know if they want to kill us they can’t stop it. When these fellahs drop us home we are on our own,” he said.
Khan sentiments were supported by Senior Counsel Gilbert Peterson, who is also prosecuting the Naipaul-Coolman case.
“My view is the same as with when Selwyn Richardson was killed. Unless we know why they were killed as attorneys-at-law we are all in danger. Everybody is focusing on who did it when we should be focused on why she was killed,” Peterson said.
Besides Khan’s function, Seetahal’s relatives also held a small memorial ceremony at Woodford Square yesterday. On May 4, 2014, Seetahal was driving along Hamilton Holder Street, Woodbrook, when she was ambushed and shot dead in her SUV.
Almost 14 months later, accused gang leader Rajaee Ali, his brothers, Ishmael and Hamid Ali; Devaughn Cummings, Ricardo Stewart, Earl Richards, Stephan Cummings, Kevin Parkinson, Leston Gonzales; Roget Boucher and Gareth Wiseman were charged with her murder.
Ali, Stacy Griffith, Deon Peters and David Ector were charged under the Anti-Gang Act for assisting the group in the murder but are not charged with the capital offence.
The preliminary inquiry into Seetahal’s murder is yet to commence with the next hearing before Senior Magistrate Indrani Cedeno scheduled for this morning.