Three Vincentians to be extradited

The three Vincentian men wanted in British Virgin Islands (BVI) to face cocaine importation charges have been committed to be extradited – but the matter is far from over.{{more}}

On Friday, June 5th, Chief Magistrate Sonya Young ordered Dexter Chance, also known as Dexter Michael, of Layou, Gareth Mc Dowall, of Calliaqua and Carlos Sutherland of Lowmans Windward “committed to prison to await their return to the BVI.”

However, defence attorney Kay Bacchus Browne tells SEARCHLIGHT that her team will appeal Young’s ruling and will be very surprised if her ruling isn’t overturned in the High Court.

In her ten-page ruling, Young said that she was satisfied that the extradition requests were in line with the requirements set forth in the Fugitive Offenders Act of 1990.

Contrary to what was the defence’s argument: that the extradition request had to follow the strict guidelines of the London Scheme for Extradition in the Commonwealth, Young ruled that the 1990 legislation was the real authority.

“Historically, the Scheme (London Scheme for Extradition) was never intended to replace Legislation but rather to be the foundation on which Commonwealth countries could craft new legislation or amendments to existing legislation,” Young ruled.

“The Court found that the Scheme is not a treaty nor is it binding on any member of the Commonwealth and certainly not on St Vincent,” she further writes.

Bacchus Browne strongly disagrees with the Magistrate on this point and told SEARCHLIGHT that this is one of the grounds that the appeal will be built on.

“To say that the London Scheme doesn’t apply, she made a serious mistake. We think it applies and they did not comply with it,” Bacchus Browne, who along with Alberton Richelieu of St Lucia and Grant Connell, appeared for the accused men.

The Court was satisfied that the three men were properly identified and that the offence for which they have been charged is a relevant offence under the Fugitives Offences Act and a prima facie case has been made out against all three men.

“The Magistrate’s duty is to ensure that there is sufficient evidence to warrant trial,” Young said.

She said that the principal line of the defence, which is that they outrightly deny any involvement in the crime and their “attack on the honesty or truthfulness of the prosecution’s main witness” are issues that a jury can be properly directed and “appropriately warned” in the trial.

The evidence that came out during the extradition hearing is built around the claims of Vincentian Chesley Balkaran, who has implicated Chance as the mastermind behind the cocaine smuggling operation, and Mc Dowall and Sutherland as part of the operation.

Balkaran was arrested and charged along with four Tortolans with the importation and possession and supply of the 61.21 kilograms of cocaine aboard the catamaran, Laisaron, between January 17th and 24th, 2008.

Balkaran pleaded guilty and is serving a prison sentence, while the others are awaiting trial.

Bacchus Browne is convinced that the case against her clients is very weak.

“If we don’t succeed (in voiding the extradition orders), it will be really weird, and we are sure that we will succeed when we get up there (to Tortola)…the case is very, very weak,” she told SEARCHLIGHT.

“They will not have sufficient evidence to convict unless they find more evidence,” she added.(KJ)