Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys yesterday freed Carolan Lynch of the charge of murdering her husband, Farouk Razac, the former boss of Swiss House Cambio, saying that he found little evidence to commit her to stand trial in the High Court.
However, Lynch’s freedom only lasted a few minutes for as soon as she stepped out of the courtroom police re-arrested her. Her lawyers, Nigel Hughes and Roger Yearwood, later petitioned the High Court to contest the arrest and Justice James Bovell-Drakes ordered that Lynch be released immediately since her detention was unlawful and unconstitutional.
The order was served on the ranks at the East La Penitence Police Station, but they refused to let her go. Up to press time Lynch, who had been behind bars since May last year, was still in police custody. Stabroek News was unable to obtain from police, the grounds under which Lynch was re-arrested.
Yesterday Magistrate Gilhuys was set to rule on the case after the preliminary inquiry (PI) ended on Friday following months of testimony from ten witnesses, including Lynch’s father, her personal trainer and neighbours. When the matter was called, he announced that he had found that no prima facie case has been made against Lynch and as such, he was discharging the matter.
Lynch emerged from the courtroom flanked by relatives and friends with a bright smile, but within minutes, Police Inspector Bacchus, who is in charge of the prisoners at the court, and two policewomen re-arrested her.
Hughes asked for a reason for the re-arrest and Bacchus said they were instructed to do so. Relatives and friends protested the police’s actions but this did not deter ranks from bundling Lynch into a vehicle and whisking her away to the East La Penitence lock-ups.
Hughes and Yearwood immediately petitioned the High Court with a writ of habeas corpus, contesting Lynch’s continued detention. Justice Bovell-Drakes heard the petition and after listening to the lawyers’ arguments ordered that Lynch be released immediately and brought before him on Friday morning.
In May, Razac was found dead on the floor of their Eping Avenue, Bel Air home. There was evidence he had bled through his nose and mouth and his hands were at his neck. A television set, which was usually at the foot of the bed, was found on the floor. An autopsy later confirmed that he had been strangled.
Lynch and Razac had previously been charged with unlawful possession of four 9 mm magazines, one Beretta automatic pistol and 120 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, which were found at the same home on November 10, 2006. They were granted $1 million bail each and after her husband’s death Lynch faced those charges alone, though they were later dismissed.
The raid on Razac’s property was said to have followed an earlier search conducted on a house in North Ruimveldt where Rhonda Gomes, an associate of the businessman, was living.
Police found an assortment of weapons and cocaine at Gomes’s house. The woman pleaded guilty to several charges brought against her stemming from the discoveries and was sentenced to three years imprisonment in December 2006.
The PI into the murder charge against Lynch began in June with testimony from her personal trainer Karan Dutt. The matter then dragged on, which prompted her lawyers to move to the High Court. A High Court judge ordered the case should be heard whenever the court sat.
On several occasions, Magistrate Gilhuys had complained that the police officers took Lynch to court “too late”. Special Prosecutor Hukcumchand had also threatened to give up the case saying that his schedule had not been taken into consideration when the High Court judge ordered that it be heard whenever the court sat.
