Monday, April 09, 2007CREDIT: Justis Smith leaves court after being ordered to face a new trial for the alleged murder of Canadian schoolgirl Rebecca Middleton in Hamilton, Bermuda, April 9, 1999. (AP/David Skinner)(CP) - It's not just David Middleton who wants to see justice for
his daughter, Rebecca. Almost 11 years after the 17-year-old
Canadian was left to die on a remote road in Bermuda, many
people in the British colony want to see someone answer for her
death.
"The case of Rebecca Middleton and her murder has never been
forgotten by the Bermudian public," Kelvin Hastings-Smith,
lead counsel for the Middleton case, said from his office in
Hamilton, Bermuda.
"If you ask anyone on the street of Bermuda about
Rebecca Middleton, they will not answer with: 'Who?' "
"As far as Bermuda is concerned, there is a case of a
suspicious death for which no one has been brought to
justice."
Hastings-Smith said the case is of "extreme public importance"
and decided to employ the assistance of a well-known
British human-rights lawyer: Cherie Booth, the wife of
British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"It's drawn a fair amount of attention to the case," Middleton
said.
He didn't realize who Booth was when he was first told about
her. He had just heard that she's a good human-rights lawyer.
And good help is expensive.
It has been reported that Booth's legal expertise costs C$400
per hour.
But raising funds has been something Middleton has grown
accustomed to - the 11 years of legal battles have cost in the
hundreds of thousands.
While many friends and family of the girl who grew up in
Belleville, Ont., think everything that can be done in the case
has already been tried, Middleton is not ready to give up.
"One of my son's says,'You've already been kicked two or
three times, why are you going back again?' ... Pigheaded,
I guess," he said.
"Both of them (men who were arrested in the case) violated
Becky's rights and just because somebody cut a deal in a
criminal court doesn't mean they can escape the
human-rights issues," said Middleton.
Rebecca Middleton travelled to Bermuda with her
girlfriend, Jasmine Meens, for a holiday in the summer
of 1996. The girls were to stay with Jasmine's father, Rick,
who lived on the island.
After two weeks of soaking up the sun, the girls went
out for a night on the town to celebrate Rebecca's
birthday. After much fun and a few alcoholic beverages, the
girls decided it was time to go home just after midnight.
They called a taxi three times, but it never came.
They accepted rides home; Jasmine with one man on a
bike and Rebecca with two men on a motorcycle.
Jasmine made it home. Rebecca was found dying in the
middle of a deserted road by a passing motorist.
She died before the ambulance came. She had been raped,
sodomized and stabbed.
In the days following, two men, Kirk Mundy and
Justis Smith, were questioned. Mundy gave a statement to
police implicating Smith in the murder.
Smith was charged with murder.
Bermuda's attorney general at the time, Elliot Mottley, cut
a deal with Mundy sentencing him to five years for
being an accessory in exchange for testifying against Smith.
But when the DNA evidence came back, only Mundy's
was found at the scene.
Smith's 1998 trial ended with an acquittal as the judge
dismissed the case citing a lack of evidence.
Attempts to retry Smith for murder were put to rest when
the Britain's Privy Council ruled he could not be put on trial
a second time for the murder.
Later, the Director of Public Prosecution decided against
considering new charges in the Middleton case.
But new hope was injected last November when Bermuda's
Chief Justice Richard Ground allowed a review into the
decision against new charges.
Hearings scheduled for April 16 and 17 will hear from both
parties about the decision made by the Director of
Public Prosecution.
"The DPP will obviously be standing by her decision and
we will be saying that is wrong and trying to persuade the
court why it was wrong," said Hastings-Smith.
If the court finds the Middleton family is right, then the
director may have to revisit her decision and there may be
an opportunity to lay new charges: serious sexual assault, rape
and kidnapping.
"Even if the judge rules against us ... then the family
still has remedies available to them," Hastings-Smith said,
without elaborating.
"I can't go any further ... I don't want to give the case
away in the media," he said
"An awful lot has been written about the Middleton death.
The court take a very dim view of matters being tried in
the press and I have no desire to get on the wrong side
of the chief justice."
"It's a very high profile matter here and in Canada."
© The Canadian Press 2007
Here is a case that drew world attention and I was shockedat how it seemed to end. Amazingly enough years later justicemay be around the corner. This may be the case for Natalee holloway too one day.Aruba can try to bury their secrets but eventually old sores erupt.Watch this case Joran, Deepak and Satish...Your day is just around the corner.
