… Magistrate refuses to oblige
City Magistrate Judy Latchman on Tuesday refused the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) request to commit Regan “Grey Boy” Rodrigues to stand trial in the High Court for the murder of Courtney Crum Ewing.
Magistrate Latchman on Monday threw out the case due to insufficient evidence and one day after the Office of the DPP, through Special Prosecutor Nigel Hughes, made the request to have her commit Rodrigues to stand trial in the High Court. However, the Magistrate stood her ground and informed Hughes that her court will not bow since she had already discharged the case. 
One of the roles of the DPP is to ensure that no citizen is charged unjustly. However, according to legal minds, this very instance is a clear violation of that role and further deteriorates the public confidence in the office of the DPP. It is noted that while the DPP has the power to order a Magistrate to commit a case to stand trial in the High Court, she must be able to provide extraordinary grounds for doing so. However, requesting a Magistrate to commit someone who has already been cleared by the courts is a clear violation of that person’s right to a fair trial, according to a senior attorney. On Monday, Rodrigues was set free for a second time after the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence to link him to the murder of political activist Courtney Crum-Ewing.
In making her ruling, the Magistrate considered all of the facts presented to her. She highlighted evidence given by Crime Scene Analyst, Delicia Brown, whose submission to the court revealed that the .32 pistol and five .32 bullets found at the accused’s home was indeed the said gun used in the execution of Crum-Ewing.
However, she stated that no actual evidence was presented to the court to prove that Rodrigues pulled the trigger, thus committing the heinous act, even though 14 witness statements alleged such. She also alluded to the facts that the oral statements given by Rodrigues during the course of the investigation did not implicate him in the killing, and as such he had no case to answer to.
Upon hearing the decision, Rodrigues burst into tears and as he was being led back into the lock-ups, he screamed, “Freedom! Freedom!”
Crum-Ewing was gunned down on March 10, 2015, as he was urging residents of Diamond, East Bank Demerara, to cast their ballots in the May 2015 General elections. Months after, Rodrigues was arrested and charged with the murder but was freed in September 2016.
However, in April 2017, he was re-arrested after the DPP ordered that the case be reopened. According to the DPP, “The sole purpose of this remit is to take further evidence from Police witnesses and to rule on the voluntariness of all oral statements of the accused.”
