Family of Claude Monaie refuses to forgive those involved in his death |02 June 2022
(L to r) Hollanda, Gertrude, Pool and Marengo at the amnesty hearing yesterday
Sidna Umbricht and Aruna Couchene have on behalf of the family refused to grant pardon to four perpetrators in the death of their brother and father Claude Monaie in 2003 on Praslin.
This was during the second amnesty hearing by the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) yesterday.
Claude Monaie died a few weeks after the truck in which he was sleeping was set on fire by state agents in October 2003 at Baie St Anne. Four perpetrators – Jemmy Marengo, Marc Pool, Roland Gertrude, and Jose Hollanda – who petitioned for amnesty for their participation in the incident, appeared before the commission. Also present to support the two family victims was pickup truck owner, Walter Constance.
“As his (Claud
e’s) elder sister, I do not accept all that you have said and your plea for pardon. You knew exactly what you were doing. You could have destroyed the pickup but not my brother. He needed his life just like you did. I will never pardon anybody,” Mrs Umbricht said.
The first to appear to give an account of the incident was Mr Hollanda, an ex police sub-inspector who was posted on Praslin from 2002 to 2003 as a deputy regional commander at the time.
He said as he was the point of contact for the late commissioner Andre Kilindo, who would always have him moved out the police station at Grand Anse Praslin and to go on the small jetty behind to receive his instructions, it was Commissioner Kilindo who instructed him, in October2003, to go and see the member of the National Assembly for Baie Ste Anne, Mitcy Larue, regarding a Walter Constance who was cursing ex-President Albert Rene and Vice-President James Michel at the Baie Ste Anne jetty.
Mr Hollanda said that he met Mrs Larue at Marie-Jeanne Estate who claimed that she did not hear the swearing incident and after she guided him to see a Cilva Barbe, who owned a tuck shop at the jetty, for more information. He said that Mr Barbe claimed that he was not in his tuck shop at the time and probably his son who was in the shop at that time must have heard the swearing.
Going back to see the son at Marie-Jeanne Estate, Mr Hollanda said that the son admitted that he did hear the swearing by Mr Constance and gave a statement of the account. He added that the son of Mr Barbe also mentioned the name of another person who witnessed the swearing incident and upon contacting the person, the person also admitted to have heard but he was not prepared to get involved or to make any statement to the police.
Mr Hollanda said that after his investigation, he contacted Commissioner Kilindo to inform him that he only had one evidence which was not enough to proceed with a defamation offence case against Mr Constance towards the President and Vice-President under the penal code at that time. He said that the commissioner stated that there will be a ‘Plan B’ to deal with Mr Constance in due course.
He stated that after three weeks, the commissioner contacted him again and informed him to assist Jemmy Marengo who was coming to do some work on the island. The commissioner also instructed him to also destroy all evidence with regard to the work he had to assist Mr Marengo with and about which at that time he knew nothing.
He said he met up with Mr Marengo, who was also in the company of Mr Pool and Mr Gertrude that night. Upon boarding the jeep they were in, they gave him details of the work that he (Hollanda) had to assist them with.
He said Mr Marengo told him that he had orders from Mr Michel to destroy the pickup truck of Mr Constance before he (Michel) arrives on the island the following day. He explained that as a police officer, he did see the order to burn the truck as unlawful but as a police officer it was also unlawful for him to disobey orders from his superior which could land him in a lot of problem with the police force.
Mr Hollanda said they wandered around in the jeep in search of the pickup truck until it was located at the Tante Mimi Restaurant. He further said that after waiting for a while they saw a fair skinned person entering the truck and they followed him to the Oxygen Discotheque and later followed him to Pointe Cabri, Consolation, where the truck stopped.
He stated it was at that point that the decision was made to burn down the truck. He said the idea to burn the truck down was for the person to get out of the truck upon feeling the heat but unfortunately he learned the following day that the person was burnt in the truck. A few days later he died.
He noted that the person sleeping inside the truck could not have been drunk as he drove very well until where he stopped.
He said that the following day – a Saturday, he went on the scene of the fire with a group of forensics from Mahé and from that day he lived his life in a trauma. He further said that he was called down to the police headquarters by the commissioner who thanked him for the “good work done”. He added that the commissioner warned him to remain silent on the incident and after a few days contacted him again to plant drugs on a list of people on the island which he refused to do.
He said he was angrily called back to Mahé by the commissioner and upon arrival he returned the drugs, the revolver and the money issued to him to do the work.
He added that the commissioner threatened him and the following week he was suspended from the force for six months on half wage.
Mr Hollanda said that after the six-month suspension, he was transferred to work at the Grand Police Prison where the commissioner threatened him if he should talk about the fire incident.
“I deeply regret what happened, it was not my intention to participate in the incident and I ask you to forgive me. I know if I had not participated, I would have been the one to lose my life,” Mr Hollanda said.
As for Mr Marengo, who was an army captain at that time, he stated that he was instructed to go to Praslin for six months to help the police with intelligence work to deal with many anti-social incidents, drugs, forex black markets, thefts etc…., happening on the island at the time. He added that after he was called in by the late Karl Tamatave, the district administrator, who commended his work on the island, he was contacted a week after by his superior, Major Daniel Mellie, for information on the pickup truck as Vice-President Michel had given the order to destroy it.
Mr Marengo, who was accompanied by Mr Pool on Praslin at that time, said that he ignored the request to destroy the pickup and after a week he was contacted again by his superior on when the mission will be accomplished to which he replied he hadn’t had the right opportunity to conduct the mission.
He added that he received a call a few days later from the same person, informing him that Vice-President Michel was getting angry and that he wanted the pickup truck to be destroyed by the time he arrived on Praslin on the Saturday.
He said he decided to obey the order and he called Roland Gertrude from Mahé to bring some petrol for him from Mahé as he did not want to buy the product on Praslin which could have raised suspicion.
He added that he also received a call from Police Commissioner Kilindo who informed him on the assistance from Mr Hollanda.
He said on the same day that Mr Gertrude arrived on the island with the petrol in his small boat, they went in search of the truck and found it at Tante Mimi Restaurant. They followed it to the Oxygen Discotheque and after to Consolation at around 3am where the truck stopped with the driver falling asleep in it. He stated that they put fire in the truck and left and later learned that it was Mr Monaie who was burnt in the incident. He further stated that his order was to burn the pickup truck only and he had no idea why it had to be burnt down. He added that the burning of Mr Monaie was an accident. He said he never heard a word from Mr Michel following the completion of the mission.
Mr Pool, who recapped the whole incident, said it was Vice-President Michel who issued the order and they had no option but to execute the order. He stated that he was the assigned driver to Marengo and they were initially sent by Vice-President Michel, who was the party’s central committee member for Praslin, to help the law enforcement officers put some order on the island as a result of some anti-social degradation.
He said they had not expected Mr Monaie, whom he did not know, to get burned as they had expected him to get out of the truck after the fire started. He added that the pressure exerted on them at a very young age was to a point where they didn’t get the chance to evaluate the circumstances attached other than to execute and get it over with. He noted that it was very disturbing to him that he was on the island for something else but ending up in a situation that has caused the death of an individual.
“From the bottom of my heart, I would like to say that I am sorry for what happened and I ask you for forgiveness, especially to the Monaie family. I also regret what happened to the pickup of Mr Constance. I regret what happened as it was not in our hands to prevent it from happening. I hope that you will accept our apologies and our demand for your forgiveness,” Mr Pool said.
Roland Gertrude said he had no idea what Mr Marengo was going to do with the petrol when he requested it from him until he was in the transport with them that night. He stated that he got back to Mahé the same day early in the morning.
“The intention was to burn the pickup truck but it turned out otherwise and the man was burnt and later lost his life. I feel sorry for him as it should not have happened. I would like to ask for your forgiveness for what has happened,” Mr Gertrude said.
After their presentations, the commission wanted to know how the fire was lighted as it was not clear to them. Mr Gertrude said that they threw a towel over the side door of the passenger side, pour petrol over it and its surrounding, light it up and then they went away.
Mr Pool said they saw Mr Michel the day after the incident and he never spoke with them. He claimed that he was the mastermind behind the incident and that he should also explain his role in the incident before the commission.
For the record, the chairman of the commission, Gabrielle Louise McIntyre, informed the four perpetrators that the commission had served a suspect notification and a perpetrator notification on Mr Michel and he had denied any participation and knowledge of the incident.
The sister of Claude Monaie, Sidna Umbricht, wanted to know as to why they did not ask him to get out of the truck if they had wanted to destroy the truck only. She noted that the reason they didn’t do so was because their intention was to kill the person inside also. She added that she believed the door was locked to prevent his brother from getting out and thanks to somebody anonymous who had unlocked the door and might have removed Claude from the truck. She added that somebody also came to finish off the life of his brother while he was in hospital recovering.
Mrs Mclntyre stated that through their investigation the commission couldn’t come to the finding that there was a deliberate killing of Claude at the hospital.
The commission also took some time to explain on reconciliation and pardon to the victims not excluding that the four perpetrators, whose job is to obey orders, are guilty for executing the order to commit the crime. They noted that we should appreciate their courage to come forward to admit their crime and to ask for forgiveness. They noted that the guiltiest of them all is the person who ordered the crime to be carried out and who has not come forward to admit.
But still the family remained steadfast on their decision not to grant pardon to anybody involved in the incident, although they were happy to have met and known the perpetrators.
Mr Pool stated that they will be ready to face the family again at any moment in time when they feel they are ready to pardon them, even after the commission’s mandate ends.
The commission advised both parties to refrain from violence and for people on social media to show respect to both parties.
The first amnesty hearing was conducted in a closed session on Tuesday in Case 16 Brian Victor, Case 56 Elizabeth Family and Case 108 Myrna lssacks concerning the deaths of Michael Hoffman and Sonny Elizabeth, and the serious assault of Brian Victor, which took place at Sans Souci in 1983. Jemmy Marengo and François Lesperance had petitioned for amnesty for their involvement in this incident. Although they were pardoned by the Hoffman and Elizabeth families, it was not the case for Brian Victor, the sole survivor of the incident, who from Skype in the United States, did not grant them his forgiveness.
Today is the last of two amnesty petitions and the first is Case 149 Rolderic Larue and the Eulentin family pertaining to the death of Dhamendra Eulentin, whose body was found in the sea at Providence in 2007. Four perpetrators namely, Jemmy Marengo, Marc Pool, Alain Jeannevol, and Ken Jean-Charles, have come forward to petition for amnesty for their participation in this incident.
The second petition hearing for amnesty is in Cases 090 Livette Hermitte and 270 Gaetan Didon, both of which concern the death of Ricky Hermitte, who was killed in 2006. Jemmy Marengo, Marc Pool, Alain Jeannevol, and Ken Jean-Charles are the four perpetrators seeking amnesty.
Patrick Joubert
