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ALPHA HOTEL PROPRIETRIX MURDER…Ex-husband freed on no case submission

May 25, 2014 News

On Wednesday afternoon, murder accused Kwabena Barker, also known as Alex Barker, was freed after a jury found him not guilty of the murder of his ex-wife and proprietrix of Alpha Hotel, Roselaine Pearl Hall.
It was alleged that between January 30 and March 13, 2008 at Yarrowkabra, Barker murdered Hall.
Hall, a US citizen, disappeared on January 30, 2008, reportedly after leaving a hairdressing salon in the city. Six weeks later her decomposed remains were found by workers in the area about one and a half miles off the Soesdyke/Linden Highway near Yarrowkabra.
The decomposed remains, wrapped in blue tarpaulin, wore clothing identified as those worn by the missing Alpha Hotel owner, Roselaine Pearl Hall, the day she was last seen.
Hall had come to Guyana to manage the guest house business owned by her father, Byron Dick, after he was gunned down outside his home in 2003. Dick was the original owner of all of the Alpha Hotel outlets.
At the preliminary inquiry at the magistrates’ court a couple years ago many questions were raised about the involvement of the husband, Romeo Rockefeller, in the murder. Hall had filed for divorce shortly before she was murdered and Rockefeller stood to and did inherit a large share of Hall’s estate of over $80 million.
At the trial in the High Court, Justice William Ramlal found after conducting a “voir dire” (or a trial within a trial) that the state had not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the caution statement taken from Barker should be admitted into evidence.
Barker’s lawyer, Charles S. Ramson, said that “the exclusion of the caution statement in this case was critical”. Ramson went on to say that in charging and prosecuting Barker alone for this murder, a very unusual situation had occurred.
“The Prosecution wanted us to believe part of the statement, that Barker was involved in the plan to commit this murder but to disbelieve the other part that Rockefeller was the mastermind of this plan.”
It was revealed at the preliminary inquiry that Rockefeller had been questioned by the police and released without charge.
After the exclusion of the caution statement the State submitted that it had no further evidence. Ramson then made a no case submission and the jury returned a not guilty verdict.
The case had attracted the attention of the FBI as Hall was a US citizen and samples of the body had been sent for DNA identification. That evidence, however, had never been tendered by the State in the preliminary inquiry.
Ramson added that despite the recent debate about the elimination of the jury system, he is not advocating for that. In an age where allegations are always made loosely about the corruption, negligence, and incompetence of a person in authority, a judgement by your peers is still the best method to preserve the perception of justice which should always be the paramount consideration in the debate.
“I, however, believe that the jury method should be the preserve of about three offences.Having said that and bearing in mind that the burden is on the state to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a person is guilty of an offence, legitimate concerns are raised when one considers conviction rates in jury trials.
“I am of the view that the response to that concern is not to get rid of the jury system but I strongly believe that the prosecution could benefit from having more access to resources which includes human. The state would be in a better position to secure convictions if at the point of investigation an attorney representing the State is advising appropriately.
“I would suggest that when judges retire or attorneys with a long and successful record of criminal practice retire they could be retained as a consultant to the DPP chambers. Their experience is invaluable to our country and they bring a perspective of seeing it from the other angle.”
The steps taken in the justice sector reform have been no doubt commendable but they have to go much further, Ramson said.

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