Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes has accused the State of using murder charges against three Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) employees as a means of silencing key witnesses before the Government’s Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the deadly sinking of the MV Barima, describing the prosecution as “a most perverse attempt at distraction.”

In a statement posted Tuesday on his social media page, Hughes questioned both the legal basis for the charges and their timing, suggesting they could effectively prevent the captain and crew from giving evidence before the Commission of Inquiry into one of Guyana’s worst maritime disasters.

His comments came hours after the Guyana Police Force announced that, acting on legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), three T&HD employees had been charged with the common law offence of murder in connection with the deaths of passengers aboard the state-owned ferry.