Secretary to the Mahdia dorm fire Commission of Inquiry, Javed Shadick, on Monday confirmed receipt of Attorney at Law Dexter Todd’s request for a stay of the COI until all criminal proceedings are completed which involved his client, who is currently facing 20 murder charges.
Shadick informed Stabroek News that a response to Todd’s written request will be forthcoming.
Todd had written to the Secretary of the CoI, Javed Shadick on August 31, 2023, noting that his client had been remanded since the May 21 fire and full disclosure was completed in the matter on July 20, 2023 at the Mahdia Magistrate’s Court and the tendering of statements as well as the cross-examination of witnesses were set to commence on September 1st. “…we need not remind the Commission of what pretrial publicity is and the danger such an act can pose on any criminal proceedings, especially the instant one. We are constrained to highlight the fact, that should this Commission of Inquiry commence momentarily, it is guaranteed to be televised (nationally and internationally) thus putting a lot of sensitive information in[to] the public domain.”
