Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) |09 June 2020
21 persons expected to testify this week
Twenty-one persons, mostly witnesses, are expected to testify before the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) this week as the commission enters its third week of hearings since it resumed sessions after the restriction of movement order was lifted.
Case 022: Olivia Vincent
Among the five witnesses before the commission yesterday, ex soldier, Jimmy Melon, was the first to be called in Case 022: Olivia Vincent in relation to the death of her brother Simon Desnousse, who allegedly was blown up in a car at Anse Forbans on October 20, 1982, along with Mike Asher, a South African bomb expert.
Mr Melon, who joined the army in 1978 before leaving in 1985, claimed that he only heard the news of the car explosion like everybody else and further he could not even remember if he was on duty that day or was at his residence. He said that as a private, he was based at the Exile army camp, Sans Souci, as part of a security team called the ‘Hit Team’, to protect former President Albert Rene.
He explained that he only accompanied the president to his place of work at State House and also on his other visits. He stated that he was not involved in any assassination of any person. He further stated that the ‘Hit Team’ comprised twelve persons, working day and night, with two to three of them going on day passes at a time.
On questions relating to the death of Sonny Elizabeth and Michael Hoffman who were allegedly killed by the army in the night of July 1983, including all other deaths presumably committed by the one party state, Mr Melon again claimed that he could not remember if he was on duty or at his residence at the time of those incidents and that he only heard of those deaths like everybody else.
Mr Melon said that he never knew and was never told or even made aware of persons to be ‘eliminated’. He noted that he only took his duty orders from his superiors, in relation to protection of the president and that was it. He remarked that at the time he was working as security for President Rene, he did not notice or was not aware of any attempts on President Rene’s life.
Case 0140: Blaisila Hoffman
The chief executive of the Islands Development Company (IDC), Glenny Savy, and former high ranking police officer, James Savy, were called in as witnesses in Case 0140: Blaisila Hoffman concerning her brother, Maxim Hoffman, who died on Marie Louise Island on August 13, 1985.
The death of Mr Hoffman was ruled as a suicide as a result of self-poisoning but the family is questioning that ruling. In her evidence, Ms Hoffman claimed that she met with Mr (Glenny) Savy in his office at the ICD headquarters, Newport, and he told her the circumstances surrounding of her brother’s death, following his (Savy) visit to the island upon learning that Hoffman had died. She had alleged that Mr Savy had told her that her brother had committed suicide by drinking insecticide (poison).
Answering the evidence in relation to the case, Mr Savy, who claimed that he had known Mr Hoffman very well since 1982, said that he was not present on Marie-Louise Island when Hoffman died but only the day before he was there to assist a lady worker who was unconscious.
Mr Savy claimed that he got a radio call conversation from Hoffman stating that the lady worker was either unconscious or had passed away and wanted to know what should he do. He further claimed that from the sound of Mr Hoffman’s voice he (Mr Savy) knew that something was wrong for which he advised him to leave everything as is while he (Mr Savy) will try to get to the island as soon as possible.
As the IDC did not have any aircraft that time, Mr Savy said he managed to get a small single engine plane from the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF) air wing to take him to the island and on arrival he saw it strange that nobody was at the airstrip to welcome the plane and passengers as is the normal routine.
Mr Savy stated that he went straight to the manager’s house in the village and saw Mr Hoffman, looking very drunk, sitting under the verandah. He said that he turned away and went to the lady’s house (100 metres away) and found her unconscious and through her pulse, and other first aid methods, he found that she was still alive. He also noted a strong smell of insecticide coming from her mouth.
Not having the time to establish as to what might have happened, Mr Savy said he got the help of another lady worker, who had accompanied him to the house, and carried the unconscious lady in his arms to the plane to be hospitalised on Mahé. He alleged that he even gave the lady artificial respiration from time to time on the plane and requested for an ambulance to be on standby at the airport. On arrival she was handed over to the health workers.
Mr Savy added he was relieved the lady survived and he decided that he would not talk to any person on Marie Louise that day until later. He said that early morning the following day he got another radio call, from the other lady on the island, who informed him that this time it was Mr Hoffman who was dying.
He stated that he had thought that a drinking party was obviously going on as he had noticed drunkenness on faces of some of the workers when he was on the island the day before, and that she was probably joking. He said that from the description that the lady had given as to the state in which Mr Hoffman was in and that he had possibly drunk poison, he took the matter seriously and went to Marie Louise Island immediately in a much bigger SPDF air plane accompanied by Dr V. Ramados, the SPDF doctor.
Mr Savy claimed the flight took 45 minutes and on arrival they went straight to Mr Hoffman’s residence and saw him lying on the bed and frothing at the mouth. He added that he died four minutes after the doctor had tried to attend to him. He alleged that a very strong smell of insecticide (Malathion) permeated the room he was in. He said the body was flown back to Mahé and was handed over to the police. He claimed that he did not witness any sign of violence on Mr Hoffman or in his residence.
He acknowledged that he did meet with family members to inform them of the situation but he could not remember if he had met Ms Hoffman personally, and that he had given her an explanation as to what had happened from what he had known and observed. He said though that he did remember meeting up with a brother (a police officer) of Ms Hoffman, personally, a few weeks later, to talk about the incident. He said he was mostly sure that the police went to Marie Louise to investigate the death of Mr Hoffman. He alleged that from what he had gathered, Mr Hoffman had a drinking problem.
Mr Savy alleged that from what he had established prior to Mr Hoffman’s suicide, there was a drinking party involving Mr Hoffman and the workers. He assumed that under the influence of alcohol some people regrettably do stupid things and that’s what might have happened. He said from what he had gathered on the lady he assisted, she got a hiding from her concubine as a result of the drinking party and from there he did not know if she drank some poison or somebody had given her poison, though the health report stated that she was not treated for poison.
At the time of his death, Mr Hoffman was managing the island’s ten workers. He was in charge of the store containing the insecticide.
In relation to the police investigation, former high ranking police officer, James Savy, assigned to the case and who went to the island and who also closed the case as suicide, said that he first learned about Mr Hoffman lying in the mortuary on August 14, 1985.
He said he went to examine the body along with another police officer and saw no injuries. From the mortuary he said he went for further information with Mr Glenny Savy at the IDC in preparation for an initial report which the court later suggested for an autopsy to be held.
Still in preparation of his case, Mr Savy said that he, along with the same police officer he was working with, went to Marie Louise on August 16, 1985 and were shown Mr Hoffman’s residence where they started to conduct their investigation. He added that the room in which Mr Hoffman was found had a strong smell of insecticide. He claimed that nothing was disturbed in the house and after collecting statements from five other workers, they left the island to put the findings together with the autopsy report which had showed death by poisoning.
Mr Savy alleged that the file on the incident was completed and was sent to the Attorney General’s office and after one week the file was returned with a note indicating that there was no foul play and that the death was as a result of a suicide through poisoning and it had to be closed. “This was as far as I could remember,” Mr Savy declared.
He noted that apart from Mr Hoffman and the lady who drank the insecticide, nobody else took it. He also noted that from evidence gathered, Mr Hoffman and the workers were having a drinking party which could have led to Mr Hoffman drinking poison as an alternative to alcohol, upon presumably finishing all the stock of alcohol under his guard on the island.
Case 0203: May-Paule Carpin-Charles
Former principal secretary for finance and former governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles, Francis Chang-Leng, was called before the commission in Case 0203 of May-Paule Carpin-Charles as the person who called her for an interview in March 2003 with regard to her suspension as a principal tax officer on November 25, 2002.
She had claimed that Mr Chang-Leng, as the principal secretary for finance, had authorised her unlawful suspension following leaked information from the department in an opposition newspaper which she had claimed was not of her doing.
Mr Chang-Leng said that at the time of the incident in September 2002 and February 2003 he was on sick leave overseas. He further said that he might have possibly met her in March 2003, but he could not recall what he might have told her.
Opening a file from the Public Administration, Mr Chang-Leng claimed that though it does not contain minutes of their meeting, if it had happened, but there was a letter from the Ministry of Finance, under the leadership of Former President James Michel as the Minister for Finance, requesting that she is placed somewhere else other than at the tax division. He noted that the suspension was taken at division level and that May-Paule Carpin-Charles was re-instated to work for government, without specifying where.
Patrick Joubert
