Attorney General called upon to apologise

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Dale Marshall, is being called upon to apologise to members of the Cave family for denying their request to convene a public rally this weekend, in their search for justice for their son Shaquon Cave.

Both General Secretary of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration (CMPI), David Denny; and Attorney-at-Law, Lalu Hanuman, have described the denial of the request to stage a rally in Independence Square from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. as an unacceptable decision. The request was made by Andrew Cave, the father of Shaquon, who allegedly died in police custody over a year ago.

Denny and Hanuman addressed the matter during a “Justice for Shaquon Cave” press conference convened by the CMPI yesterday, the day originally slated for the public rally to be held.

Cave explained that after sending a letter seeking permission to host the rally first to the Commissioner of Police and then to the National Conservation Commission (NCC) as advised, he was directed to then seek permission from the Attorney General, which he did.

“On the 18th (of May), I received that correspondence from theAttorney General’s Office, which pretty much denied us from holding that public rally in memory of our son Shaquon,” he stated, while lamenting that the level of bureaucracy one faces to get things done in Barbados is simply incredible.

Denny meanwhile stated, “I think the Attorney General should apologise to the family of Shaquon Cave, because I think this is a very big mistake by the Attorney General’s Office to refuse the Cave family the opportunity to hold a public meeting in Independence Square to explain their feelings about this situation in relation to the death of their son.

“The government of Barbados has agreed that civil societies, churches, political parties and other organisations can hold public meetings in Barbados with 100 persons, and if you need to increase that number, the protocol is that you have to apply to the Attorney General. So in truth and in fact, the Cave family should not have to go to the Attorney General for permission, because the application was for 100 persons to assemble in Independence Square. The protocols gave you the opportunity to meet, after receiving police permission to participate in a public meeting. So really and truly, the Attorney General should really apologise to the Cave family because he is contradicting his own recommendation; he is contradicting the protocols,” Denny stressed.

“You can’t say on one hand that you have certain rights and then when it is an issue... that you are going to use your power to deny this family the right to hold a public and peaceful meeting in Independence Square, where everybody was prepared to follow all of the COVID-19 protocols,” Denny alleged.

Attorney Lalu Hanuman added, “I find it rather odd that the Attorney General has refused you an opportunity to hold your rally because just (on Friday) for example, the Palestinian Movement in Barbados, we had a rally, we had a picket outside the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and more importantly, churches in Barbados are allowed to have limitless people. There is no cap now on the numbers.

“So I find it highly abhorrent that you were not given this right to hold your rally and it is something that we need to consider challenging,” he said, noting that the family could apply to the court for a judicial review to challenge the decision.