Haitian senator, family remanded until March 10
Published:Saturday | March 5, 2022 | 12:06 AM
John Joel Joseph, the former Haitian senator linked to the assassination of president Jovenel Moïse, and his wife and two children, who are all charged with illegal entry, were further remanded until March 10.
Joseph, his wife Edume, 38, and their sons Schopenhauer, 17, and Abaku, nine, are to return to court on the said date to get an update on the asylum application that has been made for the wife and children.
When they appeared in court Thursday, a representative from the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency informed Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole Montague that the application has been received and is being processed, but that the agency needs to conduct an interview with the applicants.
As a result, the family’s lawyer, Donahue Martin, had agreed for the accused to be interviewed Thursday afternoon.
The lawyer pointed out that the application for refugee status was sparked by concerns for his clients’ safety.
He said they fled the country after a gunman had attacked his wife.
FRUSTRATION OVER DELAY
The judge, however, expressed frustration over the delay in the matter which would have otherwise been speedily dealt with given that it is a case of illegal entry.
“But the older gentleman, I don’t want him here for too long,” she said.
Martin, however, highlighted that he had made the application from February 3 and that the process should not have gone beyond a month and asked the judge to supervise the process since the matter is a sensitive one.
He also told the court that he plans to await the decision on the asylum before dealing with the case for the Haitian senator.
The Josephs, who were apprehended on January 14 during a police operation in Warminster district in St Elizabeth, were then advised by an interpreter that their matter would be adjourned until March 10.
John Joel, 59, is reportedly listed among five fugitives who are wanted in connection with the president’s assassination.
He is accused of reportedly renting four vehicles that were used by the Colombian assassins on the night of the deadly attack.
Moϊse was killed at his private residence overlooking the capital on July 7, 2021.
He was reportedly shot 12 times and had bullet wounds to his forehead and several to his torso.
His left eye had been gouged out and bones in his arm and in his ankle had reportedly been broken.
His wife, Martine Moϊse, was also shot in the incident but survived.
The other key suspect in his murder plot, ex-Colombian military officer Mario Antonio Palacios, was deported from Jamaica on January 3 in keeping with an order by the Supreme Court here after his immigration breach conviction.
Palacios was intercepted in Panama by US law enforcement agents and taken to Florida, where he was charged with various crimes related to Moïse’s assassination.