Traffic probe of Carifesta Avenue crash not good enough –Nandlall

Publicly expressed concerns about the circumstances surrounding the December 30 Carifesta Avenue crash cannot be addressed with a traffic investigation, according to former Attorney General Anil Nandlall who yesterday reiterated calls for a full probe into the matter.

Over the weekend it was revealed that the Police Traffic Department has completed its investigation and that the file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice. For Nandlall this is an insult to the public.

“Someone in high authority is bent on insulting the collective intelligence of this nation by thinking that the public outrage expressed in relation to this matter would disappear if an investigation is done by the traffic department”, he said to Stabroek News yesterday.

Anil Nandlall
Anil Nandlall

He stressed that the concerns expressed by the public and the organisations which chose to speak on this matter had very little to do with the traffic accident. “It had to do with the purpose and nature of the operation, the involvement of the army, who authorised it and who were the targets”, he said.

Since the pronouncement by the Traffic Chief Dion Moore there have been concerns in some quarters as to the reasoning behind the file going to the DPP and whether this was a sign that someone could be charged.

He pointed out that in any event, two of the drivers are dead. “Is the focus now whether to charge the driver of the car who was being chased and followed and who, from all indications seriously believed that him and his sister’s safety were threatened and therefore was driving in a manner to shake off his pursuer?”, Nandlall questioned, before adding that if this is the angle now being pursued, then it is “simply preposterous”.

Nandlall stressed that what is being called for is a full and proper investigation where all the concerns publicly ventilated can be addressed. “Nothing short (of that) will suffice”, he told this newspaper.

He said that the more he hears and reads about this incident, “the more sinister it becomes and the more I realise that there is a concerted effort to conceal information regarding it”. Nandlall said that after tremendous public pressure, “a few cracks are emerging”. Last week, he recalled the Ministry of the Presidency denied that the President has interfered or has shut down any investigation; the Commissioner of Police disclaimed any knowledge of the operation although it was a Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) operation and the Commissioner of Police ultimately holds responsibility for SOCU.

General advice

When contacted for clarity yesterday on the probe, Moore said that the police file was dispatched to the DPP’s Chambers last Friday for “general advice”. He was asked whether it had been sent there with respect to charges being laid against someone or for directions on the way forward.

He went on to explain that with all fatal accidents the department has to conduct an investigation. He said that upon completion of this, the file is sent to the DPP for advice on the way forward.

Persons with knowledge of the matter told Stabroek News that the file sent to the DPP does not single out a person or persons who it is suspected was/were responsible for the accident. In fact the file does not identify an “accused person” but rather refers to a fatal accident involving three vehicles. The licence plate numbers of those vehicles are printed on the file, this newspaper was told. Those drivers of those vehicles are army intelligence officer Robert Pyle and canter truck driver Linden Eastman – both of whom perished and Raymond Seebarran.

Pyle, it has been revealed, was doing surveillance as part of a mission for SOCU at the time of the accident. He had been chasing a vehicle driven by Seebarran when he crashed head-on into Eastman’s truck, killing Eastman, himself and his wife Stacy.

Pyle at the time believed Seebarran’s vehicle was occupied by the children of the Head of NICIL, Winston Brassington, who is being investigated by SOCU. Seebarran’s sister Alana was with him at the time. Although the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has said Pyle was on a legitimate operation, his involvement has raised questions about the role of the army in the activities of SOCU, which is supposed to be a civilian law enforcement authority. Alana and her brother had visited the Kitty Station shortly after the accident to report that they were being followed. At the request of the police they submitted a detailed statement several days later. As part of the investigation police were to get statements from “some other car driver that was there” along with statements from other persons who were dealing directly with that exercise”, according to Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan.

It is unclear how many statements were taken as Moore could only say that a “lot” were taken. SOCU’s head Sydney James has declined to comment on the issue.

A member of the legal fraternity explained that in the circumstances, a Coroner’s Inquest needs to be held and this is not something that the police can initiate on their own. Hence the need for a police investigation and the assistance of the DPP. It was explained that once the investigation is done and completed, the file is sent to the DPP who then advises that an inquest be held.

Sources says that what has been done here is nothing more than a formality and should not be taken out of context.

A Coroner’s Inquest is an inquiry into the cause and circumstances of an unnatural death. It is conducted by a Magistrate, who acts as a Coroner, and is heard by a jury with a minimum of three persons and no more than five persons. A recent amendment to the Act allows now for a Justice of the Peace to be sworn in as a Coroner.

Ramjattan had told Stabroek News during a recent interview that he would withhold comment until a police investigation and Coroner’s Inquest have been completed.

Questions

The execution of this operation and the end result raise a number of serious concerns and questions including:

-Who give the directive for the Seebarrans to be followed?

-How did the army become a part of a police operation when there is apparently nothing in SOCU’s mandate which paves the way for such”

-Who or which agency has overall control of these SOCU-supporting operations?

-What is the extent of training of the operatives in these exercises?

-What was their mandate in relation to NICIL/Winston Brassington?

-Is it acceptable for Brassington’s children to be surveilled and does the SOCU mandate extend to them?

-How was it that the intelligence about the occupants of the car was so wrong?

-What was Pyle’s wife doing in the vehicle with him?

-Did Officer Pyle have training specific to such chases in a high traffic area like Carifesta Avenue?

-What was to happen if Pyle had managed to stop the vehicle transporting the Seebarrans, did he have the authority to question or arrest them or search their vehicle?

-Was there a second car giving chase and if so who was inside, army or police officials?

-What compensation will be made available to the families of Linden Eastman and Stacy Pyle?

-Whether intended or not the intelligence officer ended up pursuing the relatives of a PPP/C Member of Parliament (Alana Seebarran is the wife of MP Charles Ramson Jnr.)