Sir Mars’s murder: “Bold yet baseless” – Crime Chief responds to defence counsel’s contentions on leaked video

“Bold yet baseless”. These were the words used by Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum to describe the contentions contained in a letter sent to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) by Bernard Da Silva, the lawyer representing the man charged with killing long-time educator, Kirwyn Mars.
In a May 23 letter, Da Silva had among other things, asked the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to explain how a video-recorded interview of his client, Brian Richards, 24, of John Fernandes Squatting Area, Georgetown, purportedly confessing to the crime, was released to the media.

The defence lawyer had argued that the video was published without “due process” being observed, and that its “ill-advised” release would inevitably cast a dark shadow of prejudice in regard to a fair trial for his client which is guaranteed by Article 144 (1) of the Constitution.
That video was first published by the News Room.
The Crime Chief, who himself is an attorney-at-law, has since rubbished Da Silva’s argument.

“For your information, counsel, due process, and a fair trial are both guaranteed and enshrined in the Constitution of Guyana for every accused in any criminal trial before a court of competent jurisdiction. Let me remind you, counsel, that the preliminary inquiry into the charge of murder against your client has not yet commenced, but when same begins, the Honourable and Learned Magistrate who is a professional would be able to disabuse his or her mind from anything he or she would have heard or read that was reported in the press,” Blanhum told Da Silva in a letter.
The Crime Chief said that if the case eventually goes before the jury, the Judge will repeatedly caution the jury that they are only to consider the evidence that is before the court.

“This means, all reports in the press whether it be the untruths told by the alleged relatives of the accused or the video contradicting the fabrication told by the purported relatives of your client, in that, your client was merely given a paper to sign and he did not know what was on the paper.
“These would all have to be disregarded by the Magistrate and Judge if they conclude that a fair trial is possible with their assistance, as was enunciated by Mohammed J in the case of The State V Abu Bakr a/c Lennox Phillip Cr No 75 of 2006 (Unreported, Trinidad and Tobago).”

Legal remedies
While he contemplated legal remedies about the release of the video, the lawyer had called on the Police to issue a directive that the video be removed immediately from all forms of circulation.
But in responding to Da Silva, Blanhum made it clear that the Police Force has no legal authority to issue directives to any media house on what they ought to remove from their platform.
He added, “However, any first-year law student, let alone a seasoned Attorney-at-Law, would know that an aggrieved party can seek such an order via an application for an injunction from the High Court of the Supreme Court of Judicature. Alternatively, given your rather long-established familiar relationship with certain media outlets, perhaps you can make such a simple request in the same vein that you shared your correspondence.”
In his letter, the Crime Chief also asked Da Silva to take into account that recently, there was the release on social media of a video interview, which was only disclosed to the court and the defence attorney and the video interview, which clearly showed the investigators’ faces was then shared and copied to every conceivable social ‘cyberspace available to the eyes.
“Similarly, there was no pronouncement made as yet on the admissibility of the statements made during the said video interview. Yet conveniently, no one, not yourself [Da Silva] or any oversight body, had made any public statements condemning this course of action,” Blanhum noted.
Da Silva’s silence on that matter, he pointed out, leads the Police Force to the inescapable conclusion that it is not the course of action that is actually offensive or prejudicial to a fair trial, but perhaps it is the purported source of the release of these recordings that is offensive.
The defence counsel had addressed the letter to the acting Police Commissioner and had copied it to the Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, Blanhum and the Guyana Bar Association (GBA).
According to the Crime Chief, it is also “most unfortunate” that Da Silva opted to share his views with the Chancellor of the Judiciary, for whom we have the utmost respect, via this correspondence while the matter is validly before the court.
He opined that what Da Silva did sets a dangerous precedent, which the GPF is gravely concerned about, and it has acknowledged his actions as a flagrant attempt to bring the administration of justice into disrepute and thereby undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system.
In these circumstances, the senior Police officer has called for a stern and public rebuke to be issued against Da Silva since he shared his letter with the press to confirm that he has engaged the most senior judicial official outside of all the legal pathways available to him.
Blanhum has since informed Da Silva that there is currently an active investigation pending into an allegation of an attempt to pervert the course of justice by a named individual, responsible for deliberate falsehoods reported in the press in relation to the murder trial of his client.

Background
Mars, aka “Sir Mars”, 51, of Lot 211 New Settlers Street, Mocha, East Bank Demerara (EBD), was found pinned between his car and the fence of an apartment building at Perseverance, EBD, on Sunday, May 7.
An autopsy revealed that he was stabbed eight times, including to his chest, right shoulder, collarbone, left hand, and right elbow, and has given the cause of his death as injuries to the chest as a result of being crushed, compounded by “multiple cutaneous wounds.”
It has been reported that, two days after committing the crime, Richards was arrested at his place of employment. He has since allegedly confessed to the murder.
In his alleged confession, he detailed that, on the day in question, he and Mars arrived at the Green City Bar in Georgetown, where they consumed about two cases of beer altogether, before departing the bar to travel to Diamond, EBD, via the Mandela-Eccles Highway.
On their way to that location, a misunderstanding arose between them, and a scuffle ensued. The murder accused related that, during the argument, he picked up a bottle and struck Mars in the head, but in retaliation, Mars collected a knife that was in the car and attacked him.
He alleged that he managed to relieve Mars of the knife, and in turn, stabbed him several times.
He told detectives that after receiving the stab wounds, Mars brought the car to a stop at a location in Providence, EBD, then exited from the driver’s seat and walked to the back of the vehicle. Richards said while he was trying to retrieve his phone, which had fallen in the car during the scuffle, his hand touched the lever and accidentally put the car in reverse, ultimately crushing Mars. After realising that Mars was motionless, he said, he panicked and fled the scene.
Nevertheless, despite his alleged confession, relatives of the accused are holding out that he is innocent. In fact, they claimed that the accused was dropped off at his home at 21:00h by Mars on the night in question.
Further, they stated that he did not have any evidence on his body to show that he was involved in a scuffle. “He was at home when they claimed the murder was committed… he did not commit the act… he is innocent…” a relative told reporters.
Mars, who was Deputy Principal at the New Central High School in Georgetown, had been a teacher since 1992. He was also an actor. (G1)