Attorney-General Levi Peter has described ongoing speculations that the Dominican police may have killed kidnapper Keyan Alexander unlawfully as baseless. Peter said the police did not engage in extrajudicial killing, and that the contention whether Alexander’s family ought to have been allowed to view his body at the coroner’s is disappointing.
The attorney-general made this assertion against statements made by Alexander’s family attorney, Tiyani Behanzin, that the 33-year-old mentally-deranged kidnapper was killed unlawfully by the police. And that the coroner had no right under the law to deny his family the opportunity to identify his body before post-mortem is conducted and during autopsy.
Alexander allegedly attacked his uncle, Laurent Joseph Bruno, with a cutlass earlier this month in Warner and abducted 12-year-old Kernisha Etienne. After nearly two weeks of intense search, the police saw Alexander on June 18 and when he allegedly charged at them with a machete, he was shot and subsequently died in police custody.
Several human rights groups and opposition parties have called for investigations into the circumstances surrounding Alexander’s shooting death – given that Kernisha remains missing and the police are still searching for her. Behanzin said the police exhibited unprofessional behaviour in shooting a key suspect to death – and should be investigated – while his victim is still missing.
AG Peter said Behanzin’s statements do no demonstrate “reason, rationale, and decorum”. He said the attorney “willfully and maliciously engage in totally unwarranted and unhelpful speculation, conspiracy theorizing and unfounded accusations against the police and others at a time when maximum cooperation and cohesive effort should be the priority of us all.” He added that Behanzin had no proofs that Alexander was killed unlawfully.
According to the attorney-general, the coroner is under no obligation to allow Alexander’s family members to view his body, and that the coroner is only obligated under Section 22 of the Coroner’s Act, Chapter 430 of the 2017 revised laws of Dominica, to allow a panel of jurors to view the body; and that the jurors are not obligated to view the body when the family is present.
Peter also cited Section 30 of the Coroner’s Act to underscore the fact that an attorney may apply to attend a proceeding in a coroner’s court; and that if the application is granted, it shall be restricted to attending a coroner’s court session and to attending a post-mortem. He warned people to desist from making divisive statements that may undermine the search for Kernisha.
Whatever criticisms, accusations, theories can wait and be delivered with equal force and effectiveness in due course, once the primary objective of finding Kernisha has been met. Now is no time for grandstanding…let us pool resources and do everything in our collective power to find and return Kenisha to her family.
Levi Peter, Attorney-General
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