Margaret Pratt’s Justice Diary - May 2017

As I sit here today I'm feeling moderately optimistic. There's been a flurry of press interest over the last months and for the first time in several years there's been real interest from the media in Saint Lucia.

What they were really keen to know about was what was their government doing? What were their judicial authorities doing?

The results include this piece on the HTS St Lucia TV station. The response, I have to say, was absolutely immediate.

Mr Daarsrean Greene, the interim DPP, wanted to speak with me. He updated me on lots of aspects of the case that I wasn't aware of.

I think there's another hearing on 12 May and I'm hoping that Mr Greene and my attorney, Leslie Prospere, will report back on that.

The issue in question is with one of the defendants. The argument is that he’s unfit to plead and I now understand rather better why there has been this road block.

I'm really grateful for the personal attention that Mr Greene is being able to give to this case. This gives me enormous assurance and confidence that the authorities in Saint Lucia are finally taking the case more seriously.

If all goes well, and I'm relying on him to make sure it all goes well, it may be the case that I can start planning for a trip to Saint Lucia in the autumn.

I am the DPP’s only witness, of course, to what happened on that night and I'm very keen to be at any trial in person. That's important, I think not only for me, but also for justice for Roger.

All of the progress that we've made in the last month has been really positive. The challenge now is to keep that momentum going, to keep the pressure on and for Mr Greene to keep the pressure on, to make sure progress is made.

Mr Greene knows that he has my complete support in all that is trying to do to move this case forward as quickly as possible for a trial as soon as may be scheduled and arranged.

I'm relying on him to do that.