NARAYNSINGH NOT SURPRISED BY VOLNEY DECISION

Prof Naraynsingh was responding to Newsday’s exclusive report on Sunday that the attempt by the DPP had failed.

He said, "The thing is, we are at a stage where for some bizarre unexplainable reason this man (the DPP) continues a trend of malice, using an absolutely noble profession and the power of office and the abundant limited State resources to hunt down and persecute innocent people, and allow criminals free to roam the land."

Prof Naraynsingh said that he had not been officially informed of Justice Volney’s decision and was waiting to hear from his lawyer.

He said he bore no animosity towards DPP Henderson, but said that Justice Volney’s decision had strengthened his resolve to sue the State for persecuting him.

Prof Naraynsingh spent the day yesterday relaxing with relatives in Valsayn and said he was heartened by the judge’s decision.

He charged that the DPP was in possession of five pieces of information — which could have been used to bring the whole matter to an end where he, Naraynsingh, was concerned.

He listed the pieces of information, claiming that the DPP was warned by Vishnu Neebar of a plot to incriminate him.

The second piece, was that Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma had echoed a similar warning. Thirdly, attorney Karl Hudson Phillips QC, described the case against him as the worst prosecution at the Bar, "the height of wickedness and a wanton abuse of power."

Fourthly, Deputy Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington, said, he, Naraynsingh, had no case to answer; and the fifth, was an opinion the DPP sought from London indicating to the DPP that the indictment against Naraynsingh was not worth pursuing.

Naraynsingh said the final straw was the Sunday Newsday report which stated that Justice Herbert Volney had dismissed the matter with alacrity.

Prof Naraynsingh, his present wife Seeromanie and businessman Elton Ramasir, were charged with the murder of his second wife Dr Chandra Naraynsingh in 2003.

At the end of the preliminary inquiry at the San Fernando Magistrate Court, Magistrate Wellington dismissed the charge against Prof Naraynsingh but committed Seeromanie and Ramasir to stand trial at the next sitting of the Assizes. The case is likely to be heard sometime during the new law term, which begins about the middle of September.

The DPP filed an application in the San Fernando High Court on Monday, one week ago, to have Prof Naraynsingh indicted. The DPP also wrote to the Court, asking that CJ Sharma and acting CJ Stanley John recuse themselves from the case. On Wednesday morning, the Registrar of the Supreme Court Evelyn Ann Petersen, wrote to the DPP requesting typed notes of the evidence from the Naraynsingh preliminary inquiry, and not the hand-written notes for the judge to study.

The following day, Thursday, after lunch, the DPP sent the typed notes of over 350 pages of evidence to the Registrar for Justice Volney’s attention. On Friday afternoon, the DPP was informed that the case had been dismissed by Volney.

Prakash Ramadhar, one of the attorneys in the Naraynsingh case, said that there was nothing unusual in the speed with which Justice Volney dealt with the DPP application to indict.

He said Justice Volney has always proven himself to be very strong in what he thinks is right and proper.

Justice Volney, he said, is able to deal with very lengthy submissions, and is able to quote numerous case authorities and has been able to deliver a written judgment overnight, many in excess of 20 to 30 pages. "That says to me that he has a voracious appetite for work and is very quick in his dispatch," he said. Similar views were expressed by attorneys Martin George and Rajiv Persad. George said once the judge gave mature and reasoned analysis to his thinking and due consideration to the facts and law, then there is nothing wrong with the speed.

Persad, said that Justice Volney is a senior judge who is used to dealing with complex cases and reading large volumes of documents overnight.

Dr Chandra Naraynsingh was shot outside her clinic at Langemore Foundation, Palmyra, San Fernando in 1994 by a man pretending to be a patient.

Shawn Parris, later confessed to the killing of Dr Naraynsingh, claiming that he was hired to do the job. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

It was CJ Sharma’s alleged attempt to interfere in the Vijay Naraynsingh case that led Prime Minister Patrick Manning to initiate proceedings with a view to his possible removal from office. After receiving affidavits from the DPP, Attorney General John Jeremie, High Court Judge Mark Mohammed, Manning advised President George Maxwell Richards to appoint a tribunal to deal with the CJ matter.

The CJ immediate filed for judicial review which is now before the court and President Richards has put the appointment of a tribunal on hold.

(Editors note: In yesterday’s exclusive report there was a reference to Justice Carlos John. This of course was acting Chief Justice Stanley John. The error is regretted)