...says Philadelphia double-murder accused

PHILADELPHIA double-murder accused Cyprian Diaz has claimed that he did not kill his Trinidadian common-law-wife, Pramatee Ram-charan-Celestine, and her New York-born husband, Eugene Celestine on the morning of June 17 at their West Philadelphia home.

Trinidadian Diaz, 58, related this to his twin brother, Felix Diaz, who spent six weeks in Philadelphia and returned last Wednesday. Felix Diaz told Newsday yesterday that he visited his brother twice at the Philadelphia Correctional Institution.  He said he did not ask his brother anything about the incident because he only wanted to be there for him. However, Felix Diaz said, his accused brother cried and blurted out that he did not kill anybody.  “I didn’t want to pressure him any further.  I just wanted to be there for him and to see him,” Felix said. Asked who did the killings then, Felix said: “I don’t know.  It appears there are a lot of things still being hidden about the incident.” Contacted yesterday Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Mark Gilson said he did not expect to hear anything different to what Cyprian Diaz has claimed. “A lot of people say that in prison.  A lot of people say they did not kill anybody,” Gilson said.  The lead prosecutor in the case also said that Cyprian Diaz’s two sons, Michael and Randy, witnessed the shooting.

Gilson also said that Cyprian Diaz has still not given a statement to the police, but that it was his constitutional right not to. The accused’s court-appointed attorney Thomas McGill was not available for comment, but his assistant Tyrone Norwood said he understands their client would deny killing the couple. The attorney also admitted that no one actually witnessed their client pull the trigger. However, Norwood said he would like Cyprian Diaz to explain his children’s statements to the Philadelphia police. “There was no coercion to get the statements,” Norwood said. He added that Cyprian Diaz physically took his children and showed them their mother’s body.  He said they were upstairs the two-storey house at the time of the shooting. Norwood further said the defence team would have to sit down with their client to find out from him, “what kind of defence he wants us to produce for him.”

The double-killing was widely publicised in Philadelphia newspapers, which claimed that the accused lived with the couple, along with his two children, both of whom are now in protective custody with the Department of Human Services (DHS). Michael and Randy are also the sons of the slain woman. Felix Diaz also told Newsday that he intends to file for custody of his two nephews.  The custody hearing comes up on November 8 at the Philadelphia Family Court. Cyprian Diaz is to make another appearance at the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Centre on September 30 for a pre-trial conference. At a hearing on July 9, Cyprian Diaz waived his preliminary hearing and Gilson said this was done so as to spare his two sons from reliving the ordeal. Sources had told Newsday then that when someone waives their preliminary hearing it generally means that the defence wants to make a plea bargaining agreement, but Gilson said he had not heard from Cyprian Diaz’a attorneys with respect to a plea bargaining agreement.