'You Can't Sit For Justice' - DPP Blames Frightened Witnesses For Collapse Of High-Profile Cases

With at least three high-profile cases falling apart in the last four months, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn has cautioned her critics against laying the blame on her office or police investigators.

Llewelyn

Shields

Instead yesterday, Llewellyn, who was speaking with The Gleaner hours after a Supreme Court judge instructed a jury to return a not guilty verdict in one of two murder cases against popular entertainer Vybz Kartel, sought to focus attention on what she described as the country's "intimidatory environment" that is scaring away witnesses.

She said very often witnesses are refusing to go into the witness protection programme and end up returning to the same communities where the accused person resides.

Reiterating concerns expressed while speaking with The Gleaner earlierthis month, Llewellyn said in some cases, witnesses will accept money from relatives or friends of an accused person to discontinue a case or simply refuse to attend court.

"So even if the prosecutor or the investigator is a genius, if the witness refuses to testify, there is nothing we can do. We are not a banana republic, we have standards," the DPP insisted. Read More...