Former Crown Counsel Shantrice Dorset Convicted on Three Counts in St. Kitts High Court
Former St. Kitts Crown prosecutor Shantrice Dorset was found guilty of attempting to pervert justice, misprision of felony, and misconduct in public office.
Former Crown Counsel Found Guilty of Helping Fugitive Boyfriend Flee St. Kitts
Former Crown Counsel prosecutor Shantrice Dorset has been convicted of three criminal offences following a judge-alone trial before Justice Patrick Thompson Jr. in the High Court, stvincenttimes.com reports.
Dorset was found guilty on Counts 2, 4 and 6 of a six-count indictment and acquitted on Counts 1, 3 and 5. Following the verdict, she was remanded into custody pending sentencing. Surrounded by family members, Dorset became visibly emotional and was observed wailing in apparent disbelief as the court announced its findings. A white prison minibus arrived at the courthouse shortly afterwards to transport her to His Majesty's Prison.
The three counts on which she was convicted:
- Count 2 – Attempting to Pervert the Course of Justice: sending $560 to her boyfriend Khyron Phillip to assist him to flee St. Kitts and Nevis, thereby shielding him from a police investigation into his possession of a firearm.
- Count 4 – Misprision of Felony: knowing that Phillip had unlawfully possessed a firearm and concealing that offence.
- Count 6 – Misconduct in Public Office: while serving as a Crown prosecutor and public officer, assisting Phillip to evade detection and apprehension by police in relation to the murder of Akeem Archibald, knowing that Phillip was a fugitive who had fled to Saint Maarten.
Dorset was acquitted of Count 1, which alleged that the money was sent to help Phillip evade the murder investigation itself; Count 3, which alleged that she knew Phillip had participated in Archibald's murder and concealed it; and Count 5, which alleged corruption arising from her approach to a senior police officer concerning the surrender of guns.
The verdict therefore did not establish that Dorset knew Phillip participated in Archibald's murder. It did, however, establish her guilt in relation to assisting him to evade the firearm investigation, concealing his firearm offence, and misconducting herself as a public officer by assisting him while he was a fugitive in relation to the murder inquiry.
The 48 Hours After Archibald's Killing
Much of the case turned upon what happened during the approximately 48 hours following Archibald's death. Archibald was killed in Conaree after 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, 20 July 2024. Evidence before the court indicated that spent rifle shells were observed at the scene.
In the early hours of the following morning, Sunday, 21 July, Phillip conveyed a rifle to his cousin, Beejay Tuckett. Tuckett was subsequently arrested in connection with possession of the firearm. His evidence about Phillip bringing him the rifle went unchallenged at trial and was also supported, according to the Crown, by messages later extracted from Dorset's telephone.
The prosecution's case was that the firearm, Phillip's sudden departure and Dorset's actions had to be considered together rather than as isolated events.
$560 Transferred — Ferry Ticket Bought in the Same Minute
A particularly significant part of the evidence concerned the morning of Monday, 22 July 2024. Telephone records showed communications between Phillip and Dorset between approximately 11:18 a.m. and 11:29 a.m. Phillip called Dorset for about two minutes, then sent her a message asking whether she could "come now."
Dorset asked whether somebody else could go. When Phillip replied that there was "Noone else," she agreed and, according to her own evidence, met him. Dorset accepted in evidence that Phillip appeared agitated and that she gave him money specifically to enable him to leave St. Kitts.
Banking records showed that at 11:57 a.m. Dorset transferred $560 to Phillip. Ferry records showed that at 11:57 a.m. — the very same minute — Phillip purchased a ferry ticket to St. Eustatius with onward travel to Saint Maarten. The Crown relied heavily upon that timing.
The prosecution argued that Dorset knowingly financed Phillip's sudden departure at a time when a murder had occurred less than two days earlier, a firearm connected to Phillip had come into police possession and Phillip appeared agitated. Dorset's position was that she did not initially know why Phillip wanted to meet her and only discovered when they met that he wanted money to travel overseas.
Justice Thompson ultimately acquitted Dorset of sending the money to obstruct the murder investigation but convicted her of sending it to assist Phillip to evade the firearm investigation.
What Dorset's Messages Revealed
A substantial part of the prosecution case came from messages and other data extracted from Dorset's electronic devices. The evidence showed that Dorset and Phillip remained in telephone contact until October 2024, when her devices were seized.
The Crown relied on a series of messages written immediately before and after Phillip left St. Kitts as evidence of what Dorset knew and intended. During the early hours of 22 July, Dorset's sister apparently remonstrated with her concerning Phillip. Later that morning, Dorset wrote that she was "struggling mentally."
Later on 22 July, Dorset wrote that Phillip had left his cousin and others "to be in harms ways." After Phillip had departed, further messages referred directly to his ability to evade the authorities, including statements that Phillip had been "smart enough" to deceive immigration authorities.
The prosecution argued that these messages, when considered alongside the timing of the murder, the firearm recovery and Phillip's departure, supported an inference that Dorset knew considerably more about Phillip's predicament than she admitted.
The convictions followed a trial in which the Crown relied heavily on banking records, ferry records, telephone records, thousands of extracted text messages and Dorset's own evidence, which the prosecution argued demonstrated her knowledge of Phillip's firearm difficulties and her assistance to him before and after he fled St. Kitts.
Source: Google News KN — Crime