(Trinidad Guardian) The family of murdered Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal will not be collecting her Chaconia Medal (Gold) at the National Awards function at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s, this evening. Seetahal was posthumously awarded the nation’s second highest award along with four others—Prof Brinsley Samaroo, Brig Gen Joseph Theodore (posthumously), businessman Issa Nicholas and social worker Rasheeda Ibrahim.
The nation’s highest award, the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ORTT), was not given this year. Former prime ministers Patrick Manning and Basdeo Panday, who were offered that honour, both declined. Seetahal’s sister Susan Francois, who heads the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), told the Sunday Guardian: “The family will not be attending the awards.”
Francois said Seetahal had risked her life seeking justice for T&T and should have been awarded the ORTT. She said she was shocked that Seetahal was not given that award. “While I appreciate all the positive feedback on my sister’s life and contribution, when it comes to official national recognition from her country, anything less than the nation’s highest award is shocking,” Francois said.
“She knowingly risked her life and paid the ultimate price for her contribution and service to country. She fought for order and justice in this country. She knew the risks involved and she continued to make her contribution despite that.” Seetahal is being given the national award more than three months after she was assassinated on her way home just after midnight on May 3. Her murder remains unsolved.
On August 20, David “Junior” Baker, 28, was killed in a shoot-out with police. Senior police officers directly involved in Seetahal’s murder probe said Baker was one of the key suspects involved in Seetahal’s well-planned assassination.
At the time of her death, Seetahal was the lead prosecutor in a high-profile case—the murder trial of Vindra Naipaul-Coolman. She had only recently taken pro bono the case of two young girls who were sent to the adult women’s prison because the State could not find accommodation for them in any other facility.