Open letter to Allen Chastanet, Prime Minister of St Lucia

Dear Mr Chastanet

Murder of Roger Pratt, 17 January 2014

Thank you for making the time in your busy schedule to call me from London last week.  I much appreciated your personal update on the steps that you and your government have been taking to try to increase capacity and capability in justice systems in St Lucia.  I was grateful for the opportunity to share with you the frustrations that I continue to experience as we all try to get the case against those charged with murdering my husband to the trial stage. 

I explained that I have had no communication with the prosecuting team since May 2017, and therefore do not understand the reasons why progress to trial has been stalled by over 6 months now on two known issues; nor the steps being taken by legal teams to “unblock” impediments to taking the case forward.  You undertook to obtain a briefing from your Director of Public Prosecutions and to call me next week.  I welcome this commitment, and your personal support.

As progress stalls and with no effective lines of communication, I am planning to visit St Lucia to try to get answers about the case against those charged with my husband’s murder.  My questions are:

  • Why is it so difficult to clear the remaining impediments to trial?  What are the reasons and how can they be overcome?
  • What is the status of forensic evidence in the case?
  • When will the trial take place so that I may make firm plans to be present?

I am planning to travel in the week of 29 January 2018, just over 4 years since my husband’s funeral in St Lucia.  I seek your support and assistance in facilitating my visit so that we may obtain assurances from the key professionals on whose competence and capabilities you and the government rely.  We share the same goal: to increase confidence in the judicial systems in St Lucia – for everyone’s benefit.

With my Kind Regards

Margaret Pratt

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