A top Grenadian attorney-at-law does not believe that defense lawyers on the island can use the issue of Jurisdiction to get the three escapees freed on a murder wrap in connection with the alleged deaths of two American Yachties.
In an exclusive interview with THE NEW TODAY, the lawyer who did not want to be identified said that the action which triggered the crime of murder started in Grenada and not St Vincent & The Grenadines.
“If those fellahs confess and even if they didn’t confess with respect to the direct location where they disposed of the people – both places could have jurisdiction over this matter,” he said.
However, he believes that Grenada will have primary jurisdiction for a number of reasons including the fact that the persons who allegedly perpetrated the acts and “confessed” in St Vincent to the crime of murder are Grenadian nationals.
“The abduction of the victims occurred in Grenada and on a vessel within Grenadian waters so murder is an incident of that abduction – that is the connection.”
“The primary thing was to abduct and escape to St Vincent. They abducted and they killed the people in the course of doing that – almost of a function of the first crime which is the abduction.”
“Most likely they killed them to dispose of witnesses in relation to what they did which makes it even more graver and makes it more of a connection to the primary purpose of abduction and escape. So Grenada has primary jurisdiction in the matter and it doesn’t matter which waters.”
The three Paradise, St Andrew men who are the main suspects in the ongoing murder investigation of a US couple were officially put in the custody of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) on Monday.
The suspects – Ron Mitchell, Atiba Stanislaus and Trevon Robertson – were ordered by a Magistrate to be deported from St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) after they pleaded guilty to entering the neighbouring island illegally.
All three are being investigated in connection with the disappearance of the US couple, Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel.
They entered St Vincent on a yacht, owned by the Americans after escaping lawful custody in Grenada on February 19 where they were being held on robbery and rape charges.
The suspects allegedly hijacked the yacht, restrained the couple and it is believed that they killed them and then threw the bodies into the open sea.