T&T govt offers $2.5m reward for information on killers of prosecutor

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Trinidad and Tobago authorities Monday night announced a TT$2.5 million (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the murder of prominent Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal, as Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar sought to give the assurance that other high level officials were not being targeted by criminals.

“I have no evidence or information from the Commissioner of Police that there is need for any other high level official at this point in time, there is no information coming in that regard,” she told reporters during a break of the emergency meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) taking place in San Fernando, south of here.

Gunmen shot and killed Seetahal, a former lecturer at the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad, as she made her way home from a casino during the early hours on Sunday.

Two vehicles were used in the assassination and police found the body of Seethal, a former independent legislator and president of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago slumped behind the steering wheel of her Volkswagen Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) in Woodbrook, just on the outskirts of the capital.

Crime Watch had already offered a one million dollar reward and the killing has been condemned by various organisations, the legal fraternity and the Roman Catholic Church.

Seetahal, one of the prosecutors involved in a high profile murder trial in which 12 men are accused of killing a prominent businesswoman seven years ago, will be buried on Thursday.

In a statement, the Seetahal family condemned “the heinous murder of our beloved sister and aunt. Fearless and bold, Dana was our hero, our mentor and our confidant.

“Her untimely death at the hands of cowardly murderers is a tragedy for our family, the nation and the criminal justice system. The funeral announcements will be made at a later date,” it added.

Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams told a news conference late Sunday he had already assembled a team of investigators to probe the murder of the 58-year-old Seethal.

“All available resources will be assigned to this investigation. So if there is a need for 1,000 officers to be assigned and that is what is necessary, we assign 1000 officers,” Williams said, adding the police had not ruled out any motive for the killing.

source: jamaica observer