Deadly Mahdia dorm fire: Lawyer for juvenile murder accused wants CoI halted

…cites dangers of pretrial publicity

Dexter Todd, the attorney for the 15-year-old girl facing 20 murder charges in connection with the fatal dormitory fire at Mahdia Secondary School, has asked that the upcoming Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the tragedy be postponed pending the resolution of the criminal case, citing the risks of pretrial publicity.
This plea comes almost a month after he sent a letter to Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), asking for the 20 murder accusations against his client to be dropped since there is what he described as insufficient evidence to support a conviction.

Prejudicial
In a letter dated August 31 addressed to the CoI’s Secretary, Attorney-at-Law Javed Shaddick, and copied to its Chairman, Major General (Ret’d) Joseph Singh, and Commissioners, Todd and his associates said, “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.”
The lawyers noted the fact that should the CoI commence momentarily, it is guaranteed to be televised nationally and internationally, thus putting a lot of sensitive information in the public domain. After this CoI has been completed, they said it will be reasonable to conclude that their client will not have an untainted or impartial jury since a lot of the evidence likely to be exposed by the CoI will also be ventilated at the Preliminary Inquiry (PI)/trial.

According to the lawyers, the CoI and its hearing and findings will be extremely prejudicial to their client and that is “something we shall not take lightly.”
“We cannot expose our client to the inherent danger that lies ahead should the Commission of Inquiry come before the Preliminary Inquiry/trial. Further, we cannot impress upon the Commission the number of counts our client has been charged with and our responsibility to keep these proceedings as sanitised as possible while protecting her rights, both as a minor and as an accused person. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly outlines some measures of protection for minors and we must not arbitrarily flout these laws with impunity.”

While the accused’s lawyers are anticipating a favourable response, they have put the CoI members on notice that if the inquiry is not stayed, they will institute legal proceedings against the State to protect their client’s rights and interests.

Evidence
Last month, Todd wrote to the DPP requesting the withdrawal of all charges, arguing that recent disclosures in the matter reveal no potential evidence to lead to a conviction.
He stated that he would be forced to institute constitutional proceedings against the DPP and the State in which he would ask for specific orders and declarations if the charges were not dropped.
In his letter to Ali-Hack, Todd said, “Full disclosure was completed in this matter on July 20, 2023, at the Mahdia Magistrate’s Court, and upon review of all the statements and other exhibits served on our client, our suspicions in this matter were confirmed. Upon perusal of the statements in this matter, there is absolutely no potential evidence that could support a charge of murder, much less secure a conviction against our client.”

Fire
The accused girl is charged with the murders of Tracil Thomas, Lisa Roberts, Delicia Edwards, Lorita Williams, Natalie Bellarmine, Arriana Edwards, Cleoma Simon, Subrina John, Martha Dandrade, Loreen Evans, Belnisa Evans, Mary Dandrade, Omerfia Edwin, Nickleen Robinson, Sherina Daniels, Eulander Carter, Andrea Roberts, Bibi Rita Jeffrey, five-year-old Adanye Jerome, and Sherana Daniels.

She has not been required to plead to the indictable charges and is currently on remand at a juvenile holding centre.
The May 21, 2023 inferno resulted in the deaths of 19 female students between the ages of 12 and 17 and a five-year-old boy, who was the son of the dorm parents.
Days following that horrific incident, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) disclosed that the fire had allegedly been started by the 15-year-old student, who had also lived at the dorm, after her cellular phone had been taken away by the dorm’s mother and a teacher.
Initial information received from sources close to the investigation had revealed that the teen in question had reportedly previously been suspended for engaging in activities contrary to the rules of the institution, and was involved in an argument with the administrators during which she allegedly threatened to cause “trouble.”
The Mahdia school’s dormitory had housed students from the communities of Karisparu, El Paso, Micobie and Chenapau in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni). The fire was allegedly set in the bathroom area of the dormitory.
According to the surviving female students, they were awakened from sleep by screams, and upon checking, they saw fire and smoke in the bathroom area. This quickly spread in the building, causing several students to receive burns to their bodies and to suffer from smoke inhalation, while several managed to escape.
Several of the injured students were air-dashed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for treatment. On May 27, a 13-year-old girl was flown to the Northwell Health Burn Care Centre in New York to seek advanced medical care. She has since made a full recovery and is back home.
According to the Guyana Fire Service (GFS), the dormitory housed 59 students. At the time of the fire, there were 56 females and a five-year-old boy inside.
The remaining students had gone home for the weekend. The dormitory’s 26 windows were heavily grilled, and the five doors were locked with keys when the fire started.

Balanced, impartial, thorough
Before President Irfaan Ali, the members of the CoI were sworn in on August 10.
Besides Singh, the other members are the Chairman of the National Toshaos Council (NTC), Derrick John, and Attorney-at-Law Dr Kim Kyte-Thomas.
“My intention as President is to ensure a balanced, impartial, and thorough examination of the causes of the fire and related issues. [The CoI] is intended to derive lessons that can improve safety and ensure that such a tragedy never reoccurs,” the President had said at the swearing-in.

Financial support
In addition to medical and mental health support, the Government has since offered financial assistance in the sum of $5M to the families of each of the children who died in the blaze.
The families of the children who received injuries are expected to get $3 million each.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Aubrey Norton has said that $5 million is insufficient “compensation” for each victim’s family.
By the Government offering this stingy “financial compensation”, Norton believes the Government is trying to absolve itself from any future potential claims for liability and injury.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, has clarified that no compensation is being paid.
Nandlall said that the money being handed to the families is “financial support”.
“I made it very, very clear that if the Government is to offer hundreds of millions of dollars, it will not be appropriate compensation for the loss of any child. There is no compensation being paid or offered. Compensation is a legal terminology that connotes that there is an acceptance of blame or culpability, or there is a finding of blame or culpability by a tribunal of competent jurisdiction. None of those things have happened,” Nandlall said early last month.
The bulk of the money that will go towards providing support for the families of the victims of the Mahdia tragedy, was on Wednesday, August 10, approved in the National Assembly as part of the $61 billion supplementary estimates.