Judge requests further assessments in Roger Pratt murder case

Hello everybody, my name is Margaret Pratt and I'm talking to you today to provide an update on the murder of my husband who was killed in St Lucia in January 2014.

As my increasing numbers of followers know, we’ve been waiting now over four years to get the four people who almost immediately confessed into court in St Lucia.

The case went back to court on Monday 26 March and a request was made of the judge to permit another assessment of the fitness to plead of one of the accused.

The court has kindly agreed to that second opinion being sought, so the matter has been deferred until 27 April. I hope to have an update myself at that point.

I think this is good news. It is still a very tight timescale to achieve the 27 April but things do appear to be moving.

There has also been some progress in terms of improvement in forensic sciences on St Lucia. There has been really good news in the cases of two ladies with whom I’m in touch here in the UK. Both now have had results through the forensics lab in St Lucia, although I have had no such news.

I am very keen to get clarity on the forensics because I know that - at the time I left St Lucia - the police had what would be compelling forensic evidence linking people to the site of the murder and the personal attack on me.

I’m very keen to get to get that sorted out and I’ve asked for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office again to pursue progress on the forensics with the St Lucia authorities.



The other piece of news is not so good really.

Over the past month there has been a flurry of homicides in St Lucia which demonstrates again that this is not a safe place. My heart goes out to the loved ones of the victims of those homicides.

Finally, I want to say thank you to everyone who is following the Justice for Roger campaign and spreading the word. We are increasing our reach, not just amongst tourists, but also the Caribbean islands and specifically St Lucia.

We are getting a head of steam about the broader safety and justice issues in St Lucia and I’m very happy about that. Thank you all so much for sharing our story, keep up the good work.

The campaign is touching a nerve and because of that we’ve got a far stronger sense of success and achievement arising from that. I’m very keen that we capitalise on that, not just for me but for other people too.

I’d like to wish everyone a happy Easter and I look forward to talking to everyone again in about a month’s time.

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