Murder charges in MV Barima case rushed — Emile Mervin — Opinion

Murder charges in MV Barima case rushed

October 21, 2026·3 min read

Dear Editor,

Magistrate Ravindra Mohabir clearly is in over his head in this government-made tragedy that is morphing into a politicized circus-type trial. I’ve repeatedly blogged distinguishing between the high bar of murder charges that require the element of intent for charges to stick, and the low bar of manslaughter charges that require the element of recklessness and or negligence for charges to stick.

I’ve also gone a step further to acknowledge there are mitigating circumstances that prosecutors can use to help a presiding judicial officer to consider using case law or case precedent to interpret and apply the law for a murder charge where the element of intent is conspicuously missing. Here, the accused person’s display of depraved indifference or reckless abandon in commission of a crime that ends with the unintended death of the victim can qualify for a murder charge. Examples of these abound out there.

In the MV Barima tragedy, which claimed over 100 lives, the vessel capsized and sank in 40 feet of water, around 10 or 11 miles from the Essequibo coast. Given the murky water and fast pulling current environment, police and marine investigators would have their work cut out trying to get to the vessel to gather information, so the easier and first route to take was gathering information from the crew members and passengers as eyewitnesses.

As part of the fact-finding investigations, mandatory incident-testing of the crews was done and they reportedly came up with traces of controlled substances in their bodies, which can understandably be used to bring charges of operating a marine vessel in passenger service while under the influence (OUI). But was that OUI the deciding factor for the boat capsizing? At worst, the crew members could have been issued preliminary manslaughter charges, pending ongoing investigations, and preliminary OUI charges pending secondary tests by independent laboratories. Government labs alone should never be used in an incident of this magnitude.

A rush to judgement with murder charges before a complete, comprehensive probe, therefore, could be seen by the public as a possible attempt at a cover-up because detection of controlled substance residues alone cannot be a deciding factor.

Commonsense and fairness say there’s still need for a more comprehensive probe of the vessel itself, which could help incriminate or exculpate the crew. So, why didn’t prosecutors and judicial officers wait for a comprehensive probe to be done before escalating charges from manslaughter to murder, rather than rushing straight for murder?

The sticking point for any comprehensive probe here is for divers to access the vessel, failing which, opt for salvaging the vessel. A marine vessel sinking with passengers resulting in deaths is a different environment from a plane or bus crashing on land with passengers dying. At least land accidents allow for easier access to investigators.

To our shock and awe, however, we had Prime Minister Mark Phillips going public on July 27th, as per NCN, floating the idea of the vessel remaining on the seabed and a memorial being established over the site.^[1] When that idea received pushback/blowback from survivors and those who lost loved ones, the narrative quickly changed to the families/relatives being consulted before a decision is made.

That was then followed by Attorney-General Anil Nandlall appearing to sell salvaging of the vessel as a cost prohibitive undertaking at US$10m.^[2] In the end of that phase, government settled on BK Tiwarie’s lowest of three salvaging bids, only for BK to go public days later, asking for salvaging experts to come on board. Does anyone get the impression government wants to salvage the vessel, whose salvaging is key to making or breaking murder charges?

Right inside that foregoing paragraph is a compelling basis for prosecutors and judicial officers to see there can be no comprehensive investigation with the vessel still on the seabed, which then makes murder charges and locking up the three crew members a premature, perhaps premeditated, move that shifts culpability and attention from government.

Unfortunately, the testimonies from participants before the CoI continue to expose humongous systemic failures of the government and its culpability is inescapable. Chew on this as I close: marine vessels used as cruise ships or for public transportation purposes have a lifespan of around 30 years, with 40 being possible under rigid maintenance schedules. The MV Barima was 87 years old at the time of its demise on July 18, 2026.^[3] That, and the stalled GY$1.4b Port Kaituma wharf^[4], indict the PPP on culpable negligence charges. Prosecutors and judicial officers are just bumbling cheerleaders in this tragic circus.

Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin

References

Statement to the National Assembly by the Honourable Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips on the chronological account of the Government’s response following the MV Barima tragedy – Department of Public Information, Guyana — dpi.gov.gy ↩
Sunken MV Barima could cost US$10M to salvage — Nandlall - Kaieteur News — kaieteurnewsonline.com ↩
MV Barima comes to tragic end after 87 years - Kaieteur News — kaieteurnewsonline.com ↩
Government reviewing Port Kaituma wharf contracts – Department of Public Information, Guyana — dpi.gov.gy ↩

dpi.gov.gy · 2026-07-27

Statement to the National Assembly by the Honourable Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips on the chronological account of the Government’s response following the MV Barima tragedy – Department of Public Information, Guyana # Statement to the National Assembly by the Honourable Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips on the chronological account of the Government’s response following the MV Barima tragedy July 27, 2026 Mr Speaker, Honourable Members of the National Assembly, I rise to place before the National Assembly an account concerning the tragedy involving the MV Barima, the search, rescue and recovery operations that followed, and the support provided to the affected families. 1. At 15:20 hours MV Barima departed the Transport and Harbors Department Goods Wharf with passengers and Cargo for Port Kaituma. 2. At 22:43 the Air Traffic control Centre Timehri received a distress signal. 3. At 23:01 the Georgetown Lighthouse received information from the ATC, Timehri. 4. At 23:03 The Georgetown Lighthouse informed the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre who then informed GDF, Coast Guard, GPF and other Stakeholders. 5. At 23:11 Coast Guard deployed GDFs 1030 from Pomeroon floating base. 6. At 23:25 MRCC assembled National SAR committee 7. At 23:40 Coast Guard deployed 2 vessels from Ruimveldt Base 8. At 02:27 – 5 persons rescued 9. At 4:14 – 19 persons rescued 10. At 05:13 – 53 persons rescued A total of 77 persons were rescued and one of the persons rescued subsequently died. Search and rescue/recovery operations continued over the period Sunday 20th July 2026 to present. On 20th July 2026, The MV Barima was found resting on the seabed approximately 31 nautical miles northwest of the point of uninitial distress communicated by the Air Traffic Control tower. This was based on the report made by Mr. Haresh Singh and the assistance provided by local fisherfolk, ExxonMobil Guyana, VESHI and Sealand Survey’s Gilligan Island in confirming the vessel’s exact position. ... The Ministry of Health and the Guyana Police Force subsequently established joint protocols for the processing, transportation and storage of the deceased. Identification procedures were to take place at the Suddie Hospital. The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre remained operational, and the search and recovery effort continued. ... The public was advised that full recovery mode was being pursued. The Government of France had provided 15 divers, who joined the local team at the site. It was also announced that recovered bodies would be taken to Charity for processing by the health and police authorities, and that relatives would be invited to identify their loved ones at the Suddie Hospital. ... At 13:00 hrs on 21 July, 16 vessels were deployed within the wreckage area. The designated search area had been expanded by an additional 400 square miles, extending to Waini Point. French and local divers continued underwater operations, while relatives undertook the identification of recovered bodies at the Suddie Hospital. ... State and private sector vessels continued operating throughout the expanded search area, supported by aerial surveillance. Aircraft also transported relatives to the Suddie Hospital to assist with identification ... Health ... Frank Anthony ... and his team remained at the hospital and began facilitating the ... identified bodies to ... relatives ... Regional authorities remained engaged with families to facilitate arrangements for interment. All stakeholders were reminded that recovered bodies were to be transferred immediately to the custody of the Guyana Police Force at the designated facility at the Charity River Dam, in accordance with the established recovery and identification protocols. ... Five dives, each lasting between 45 and 60 minutes, were completed on 24 July. During one of those dives, one body was recovered from within the MV Barima. This brought the cumulative number of bodies recovered to 73, of whom 69 had been positively identified.

Source

Murder charges in MV Barima case rushed in Kiskadee Watch, October 21, 2026

Sunken MV Barima could cost US$10M to salvage — Nandlall - Kaieteur News

kaieteurnewsonline.com · 2026-08-06

## Sunken MV Barima could cost US$10M to salvage — Nandlall Aug 06, 2026 News (Kaieteur News) – Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC has revealed that the price tag to salvage the sunken MV Barima could be between US$8M and US$10M. During his weekly programme ‘Issues in the News’, the Attorney General defended government’s move to tender for the salvage operation. Before it was decided to salvage the 87-year-old ferry which capsized on 18 th July leaving 73 confirmed dead and at least 30 still missing – the Irfaan Ali administration had been considering establishing a memorial at the site where the vessel sank. “The president indicated that he met with the families of the persons who were missing and they requested that they ought not to be raised. Apparently, the families changed their minds and they requested that the boat be raised. The government said, okay, we will raise the boat. It will cost somewhere between 8 to 10 million US dollars. A tender is out to salvage the boat,” Nandlall said. ... During his programme, the attorney general took aim at opposition politicians and accused them of exploiting the maritime tragedy for political gain. “I see the opposition politicians continue to exploit the MV Barima tragedy for their narrow political agendas…this tragedy has energised them. It has given them oxygen and they are using the grief and the anguish and the pain of people to advance political causes,” ... attorney general stated. ... “Now the government has gone to open tender and that now they have a problem with the point I am making. No matter what is done, these people will not be satisfied because they don’t, they are not concerned about this tragedy and about the lives lost and about the suffering and pain and grief of anyone. That’s not what they are concerned about. They are concerned about milking this tragedy as much as they can to make as much political gains that they can make from this horrendous human tragedy,” Nandlall continued. ... The government’s consideration of a memorial site where the vessel sank to honour the lives of those who drowned had sparked protest action last week with the joint opposition parties joining families in calling on the government to bring the vessel to shore. They believe salvaging the vessel may hold crucial evidence to the investigation into the tragedy. ... On Saturday, the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) and the Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation issued a Request For Proposals (RFPs) to salvage the sunken MV Barima. According to the document, the government is seeking qualified and experienced marine salvage contractors to submit Expressions of Interest (EOI) to recover the vessel that is currently lying as a wreck, in soft mud, in water depths of about 13-15 meters (42-49 feet). The RFP stated, “Visibility at the wreck site is poor and strong currents and tidal streams may be encountered at times, necessitating suitably robust procedures and equipment for sale operations.” In its EOI, the contractor must propose methods and sequences for all stages of the operation. Additionally, the reputable salvage companies must have a proven track record of successful vessel salvage operations in Guyanese or wider Caribbean waters, particularly environments characterised by strong currents and restricted visibility. EOIs should be submitted via email to procurement@marad.gov.gy by 14 th August, 2026. Government made it clear that proposals issued after this time may not be considered. Notably, MARAD stated that it reserves the right to shortlist firms. ... Mohamed ... raise ... at ... , using ... assistance ... experts.