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Against Her Will – Trinidad Newspaper Publishes Details of Slain Attorney's Estate

Categories: Caribbean, Trinidad & Tobago, Citizen Media, Law, Media & Journalism

Today's lead story in one of Trinidad and Tobago's most popular newspapers was the contents of slain Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal's will. Seetahal was gunned down five months ago [1] in Port of Spain; no one has yet been arrested for her murder.

The blog Wired 868 [2] could not understand the rationale behind printing such personal information. In a post titled “Will and No Grace” [3], Mr. Live Wire thought that the daily “pushed the boundaries of good taste”:

At a time when the Budget, a brazen attack on the Besson Street police station, gay rights, Trinidad and Tobago’s stance on ISIS, a missing police file on Junior Sammy’s son, Sean, and the accidental shooting death of 17-year-old Ricardo Mohammed by a lawman all cried out for further probes and analysis; the Express opted to rummage through Seetahal’s gifts [4] to her family, friends and staff members instead.

He continued:

Did Seetahal leave all her earthly possessions left to former insurrectionist Yasin Abu Bakr? Was there an autographed picture with former Iraq President Saddam Hussein? Or maybe a book on conflict of interest bequeathed to Attorney General Anand Ramlogan?

Then how could Express justify this invasion of Seetahal’s private space?