Jamaicans react with horror, sadness to killing of Trinidadian attorney

A prominent member of the Jamaican bar has responded with shock and grief to the assassination of prominent Trinidadian attorney, Dana Seetahal, early on Sunday morning.

Miss Seetahal, a prosecutor and former lecturer at the Hugh Wooding Law School in the twin island republic, was killed after gunmen, traveling in two vehicles, blocked her Volkswagen Sports Utility Vehicle in Wooodbrook, just on the outskirts of the capital, and fired multiple times into her vehicle.

Reacting on RJR’s “That’s a Rap,” on Sunday afternoon, Ian Wilkinson, QC, immediate past president of the Jamaican Bar Association, said he was “horrified” at the news.

Recalling his personal interactions with her, Mr. Wilkinson praised Miss Seetahal for “her wit, her intellect, her spunk.”

He also expressed condolence to her family, friends and members of the legal fraternity in Trinidad & Tobago, on behalf of the Jamaican Bar Association, hoping as well that her killers "will be brought to justice as quickly as possible."

Jamaican broadcaster Fae Ellington, and Martin Henry, newspaper columnist with the Jamaica Gleaner, also speaking on "That's a Rap," both shared their sorrow at the killing as well.

Fae Ellington observed that crimes of this nature were being perpetrated, "not just in Trinidad & Tobago, but we see the illustrations of that in Jamaica in some very macabre ways, it makes you wonder... nothing or no one is safe anymore."

Martin Henry, highlihting the fact that lawlessness was spreading across many Caribbean states, described Seetahal's killing as "a direct attack upon... the justice system, upon law and order and a strong day for crime, a weak day for justice, for law, for order and for the stability of the societies of the Caribbean."

It was, he added "a frightening, unnerving situation to watch law and order being held in such disregard by criminal elements, and the states apparently not being able to fight back as successfully as citizens would wish."

Two vehicles

The Trinidad Express newspaper reported that, about 12:05 a.m. Miss Seetahal was in her Volkswagen SUV proceeding north along Hamilton-Holder street, Woodbrook when upon reaching the vicinity of the Woodbrook Youth Facility two vehicles pulled alongside her causing her to come to a stop. One of the vehicles, a Nissan Wingroad then drove ahead a short distance and pulled across the road, blocking it.

The other vehicle, which was described as a panel van, reportedly pulled alongside and the occupants of that vehicle pulled out their firearms and opened fire on the SUV. The two vehicles then sped off and made good their escape. Residents of the area, on hearing the gunshots reportedly contacted the police and emergency health services.

However, despite their swift response, when they arrived, they discovered that the senior counsel and a columnist for the Express, was dead, slumped along her driver's seat, according to the newspaper.

NOTE: Click on the arrow above to access audio featuring reactions to the killing, on RJR's "That's a Rap."