'You can't have both' …Todd challenges parallel COI, murder prosecution of MV Barima crew

What this source establishes

Attorney-at-law Dexter Todd, acting for the three charged Transport and Harbours Department employees, is preparing a court challenge to the Director of Public Prosecutions' position that the criminal prosecution and the Commission of Inquiry may run concurrently. Todd argues a maritime casualty of this kind should be governed by the Guyana Shipping Act rather than common-law murder charges. Todd raises the self-incrimination problem directly: "What will stand down? Will the COI stand down or will the criminal cour

Key claims

• Attorney-at-law Dexter Todd, acting for the three charged Transport and Harbours Department employees, is preparing a court challenge to the Director of Public Prosecutions' position that the criminal prosecution and the Commission of Inquiry may run concurrently.
• Todd argues a maritime casualty of this kind should be governed by the Guyana Shipping Act rather than common-law murder charges.
• Todd raises the self-incrimination problem directly: "What will stand down? Will the COI stand down or will the criminal court stand down?"
• [SINGLE SOURCE] Todd says his clients' participation in the COI is conditional on three things — whether the criminal proceedings are stayed, whether adequate legal safeguards exist, and whether the Commission's Terms of Reference are made available for review. No other outlet carried this conditionality on 31 July.
• The three men — Captain Kevin Price, Chief Mate Rondell Dwayne Roberts and Goods Superintendent Delon Granderson — face 72 counts of murder over the 18 July capsizing. They have not been tried.

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