John Joel Joseph, the former Haitian senator linked to the assassination of president Jovenel Moïse, and three members of his family, who are all charged with illegal entry, are to return to court on March 3.
Joseph his wife, Edume, 38, and their sons Schopenhauer, 17, and Abaku, nine, were further remanded this morning in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.
A translator was also on hand to assist with the proceedings.
Senior parish judge Lori-Ann Cole Montague indicated that the matter was adjourned until March 3 pending an application made by the lawyer for the Haitians, Donahue Martin, to the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA).
The application concerns the status of Edume and the children.
John Joel Joseph is allegedly linked to the assassination of then Haitian President Jovenel Moïse who was killed last July.
Joseph, who spoke in court for the first time, said his wife was sick and both of them have not been able to sleep during this ordeal.
“I would like to see the process finished for my family”, Joseph said.
During the sitting, his wife, on several occasions, had to use an asthma pump and was given water to drink.
The Josephs were apprehended on January 14 during a police operation in Warminster district in St Elizabeth.
According to a senior police officer, John Joel Joseph was listed among five fugitives for whom Haiti’s Justice Minister, Rockefeller Vincent, said the country would offer six
million gourdes for their arrest.
According to excerpts from a Haitian police report, Joseph had reportedly rented four vehicles that were used by the Colombian assassins on the night of the deadly attack.
The other key suspect in the Moïse murder, 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.
(Andre Williams, Jamaica Gleaner)
