2 more prosecutors quit DPP’s office 

Two more crown counsel have left the prosecution service in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, leaving the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) under even more strain as the chief prosecutor has left to act as a judge.

The sudden resignation of Senior Counsel Richie Matiland, a Grenadian, on July 29, and the resignation of Allana Cumberbatch leave the office with just four crown counsel, two of whom are said to be planning to leave. 

Of the remaining prosecutors, the most senior has been a lawyer for 12 years, followed by another who was called to the bar five years ago. The two most junior crown counsel have less than three years’ and less than one year’s call, respectively.

The situation comes even as no assistant DPP was appointed after Karim Nelson quit to take up a post overseas some time ago and Tammika McKenzie was appointed a senior magistrate on April 1, 2024.

Sources told iWitness News that Maitland’s sudden resignation hours after the closing of the assizes came as a shock to his colleagues.

iWitness News was reliably informed that Maitland resigned because of the actions of a very senior police officer, which the prosecutor felt left him exposed to the same criminals that he prosecutes as well as their accomplices and associates.

Sources have said that some people in the Ministry of Legal Affairs were ruffled by an iWitness News article on July 28 that reported that Maitland had not appeared in court in months, reportedly as he awaited the resolution of a matter by the Attorney General’s Chambers.

The following day, during the closing of the assizes, defence counsel Grant Connell spoke in open court about Maitland’s absence from court for months.

“We lost two major pillars. I don’t even know where they are: Karim Nelson and Rose-ann Richardson.”

Richardson has reportedly taken up a post in another Caribbean country.

“We are soon to lose others,” Connell said and outlined the experience of the four counsel at the office of the DPP who had been attending court, adding that one of them might be leaving the jurisdiction soon.

“But, Counsel Maitland, I don’t know where he is. I don’t see Counsel Maitland. And since Counsel Maitland was here, since joining the prosecution, … — I am sure Mr. [Ronnie] Marks will support me, the DPP will stand and support me — has had a significant impact on the prosecution,” Connell said.

“He stood up in cases where other prosecutors would not stand up; the last one with Jacket et al. Because it is not an easy job when you look up in the dock and see certain people. He stood firm with that.”

Connell was referring to the case of contract killer Schemel “Jacket” Dunbar and his accomplice Kendine “Hoodie” Douglas of Rillan Hill.

The duo were convicted in 2023 of murder while the mastermind, Richard “Carib” Francis, pleaded guilty over the May 4, 2017, shooting deaths of brothers Danroy Cozier, a 26-year-old police constable, and Nicholas Cozier, 19.

Connell represented Douglas in that trial, in which McDowall, Maithland, and Crown Counsel Renee Simmons were the prosecutors. 

“He stood firm. Yet, we don’t see Counsel Maitland. Weeks! Where is he? Month!” I ain’t hear none of my colleagues say anything,” Connell asked. 

“Private? Private?” he said, apparently responding to a comment a prosecutor at the Bar table. 

“Prosecuting public,” Connel added.

The prosecutor said that Maitland has a personal life as a prosecutor. 

“He has a job,” the lawyer responded.

“And the job is being done,” the prosecutor said.

“… I am not seeing him doing his job,” Connell said, referring to the fact that Maitland has not been appearing in court.

“What is the reason for that? I need to know,” he said and suggested that it is something that Sherlan “Zita” Barnwell, president of the SVG Bar Association, could check out.

“Because when this office is affected, justice gets infected,” Connell said. 

The defence lawyer spoke during a sitting of the court in which McDowall said that when they took up the post of DPP, she knew that “the office of the DPP was like going into a burning building and taking up a seat.

“Whatever fires are there raging and even if the smoke is suffocating, you sit down and do the work…” she said. 

Mc Dowall said that during her tenure, from Crown Counsel 1 to the point where she was leaving to become a judge, the magistracy welcomed Ayana Dabreo, Colin John, John Ballah and Tammika Da Silva Mc Kenzie.

During that same time, the judiciary has also taken former DPP, Colin Williams, while the parliamentary spaces have taken Senator Shackell Bobb and Kaylia Toney has gone off to study as a Chevening scholar and the office of the DPP welcomed Maitland, another Chevening scholar.

She said opportunities for advancement have taken several other people from the office of the DPP in SVG, including Nelson and Richardson, adding that Cumberbatch would leave soon.

“I have seen other types of progressions and what remains are police officers who are pursuing law degrees, doctoral degrees, undergraduate degrees at the Office of the DPP,” she said, adding that other civil servants in other departments at the Office of the DPP are undertaking various degrees. 

“And, soon enough, they will outgrow the space,” McDowall said, adding that she was not suggesting that people need to have a degree to be distinguished.

She mentioned several police prosecutors and other police officers working in other departments at the office of the DPP.

“And this is why my heart is at rest. Because having seen the investment and seeing the fruits, people must take flight because that’s what we are trained for. If the Office of the DPP becomes a place of permanency, then let the cries be loud, let the alarm bells ring,” McDowall said.