Defendant gets to court, but still no progress

Saturday 23 November 2019

Richard de Wit has been taken to court for the first time in four months, but there has still been no progress in his trial, where he stands accused of murdering Guernsey-woman Sarah Groves.

He denies killing her in April 2013, and has been on trial since that summer.

The case has been beset by constant delays for various reasons. This week the 173rd hearing was scheduled and yet again no progress was made. 

Pictured: Sarah Groves. 

Kashmir, where the court case is being heard, has been suffering political uncertainty for months, which has worsened since it lost its special status. The last hearing was scheduled for 7 November, but didn't happen because no prisoners or witnesses could attend court. Since then, the Groves family had heard little from Kashmir, but now they've been told a hearing was due to take place yesterday.

Vic Groves, Sarah's father, said the Judge had become seriously concerned about the inability or unwillingness of the authorities (police and prison) to transport under-trial prisoners from jail to court, saying "this was preventing progress in any trials involving under-trial prisoners – including the State of Jammu & Kashmir -v- Richard de Wit. At that time, no date was set for this next hearing."

Pictured: Richard de Wit pictured during a previous court hearing. 

With lines of communications suffering due to the ongoing political unrest in Kashmir, the Groves family were only made aware of yesterday's scheduled hearing hours before it happened. Yet again, no progress was made in the trial though.

"Once again the court could not properly convene to hear the case," said Mr Groves, "on this occasion due to the lack of witnesses present. However, Richard de Wit was brought to court for the first time since 23 July 2019. Due to the difficulties in communications, it has not yet been possible to receive images taken of him but if / when they are received they will be circulated.

"This was the first hearing attended by the recently appointed Prosecutor, Mr Mohammad Ashraf. Mr Ashraf is the seventh Prosecutor to be appointed in this case; he replaces Mr Mohammad Sultan who was a Special Prosecutor with responsibility for a number of other cases simultaneously. Mr Sultan was not a good representative of his profession. Since his appointment in September 2017 there had been sixty scheduled hearings during which only 5 (out of 46 listed) witnesses gave evidence. This represents four and a half months per witness.

"We understand that the new Prosecutor and the Judge now wish to address the issues that have prevented witnesses from attending court and steps are being taken by issuing non-bailable warrants. Hopefully, at the next hearing scheduled for 30 November 2019, all components will be in place for some progress to be made."

Pictured: Sarah Groves parents, Kate and Vic Groves. 

The Groves family say they still have a number of other concerns though, including over the whereabouts of one key witness; "the taxi driver who was taking the accused from Srinagar to Jammu when the police instructed him to divert to a police station en-route where he was arrested. The taxi driver was first summoned to appear on 28 March 2014, more than five and a half years ago.

"Steps are also being taken to secure the recall of key witnesses, predominantly the boatowner and members of his family, including Sarah’s ‘boyfriend’ at the time Syed Shoda. It is essential to recall these witnesses for four reasons:

• None of the current key players (Judge, Prosecutor and Defence Counsel) were in post when these witnesses first took the stand;
• Without exception and beyond all doubt each one committed perjury by lying under oath;
• Initial cross-examination by Ms Shilpi Jain, Richard de Wit’s first legal representative, was woefully inadequate and failed to identify the shortcomings of their evidence;
• Without second thorough cross-examination the verdict, when delivered, will not be a safe verdict." 

Mr Groves said he still has hopes that the trial could convene and conclude with a safe. verdict. However, he warns that will need several people working together to ensure it happens. 

"This trial has seriously stalled – in recent times for reasons way beyond the control of anyone. However, in order to make sure it gets back on track and proceeds to an acceptable conclusion, many improvements are required by the key players.

"To achieve these, renewed pressure must now be brought to bear on the authorities in all locations (UK, Netherlands, India and Kashmir), at all levels and in all disciplines (political, diplomatic and legal).

"Clearly, we continue to need considerable help if justice is ever to be found for our beloved Sarah."

The next scheduled hearing is Saturday 30 November.

Pictured top: Sarah Groves and Richard de Wit, who denies murdering her.