HGP Nightly News – The three men charged with murder over the MV Barima disaster were not responsible for certifying the vessel as seaworthy, defence attorney Dr. Dexter Todd has said, placing that duty squarely on the Maritime Administration Department.
Todd, an APNU parliamentarian, made the argument Thursday during a special press conference concerning the prosecution of Captain Kevin Price, Chief Mate Rondell Dwayne Roberts and Transport and Harbours Department Goods Superintendent Delon Granderson.
“None of the parties charged are to determine seaworthiness of that vessel,” Todd said.
He explained that seaworthiness was established through a formal regulatory process managed by MARAD and overseen at the ministerial level.
“Seaworthiness of the vessel carries a particular procedure, and that has to be determined by MARAD, which holds the power and is informed by the subject minister,” he said.
Todd was responding to questions about what his clients may have disclosed concerning the ferry’s condition, navigational aids and safety equipment.
He declined to reveal the substance of those discussions, citing attorney-client confidentiality and professional ethics.
His position does not mean crew members bear no responsibility for operating a vessel safely or reporting defects. It raises a separate question: which agency inspected the MV Barima, certified it for service and authorised its continued operation?
The defence says those decisions were outside its clients’ control.
Price publicly alleged that the vessel was unfit to sail while being escorted into the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
Visibly distressed and handcuffed, the captain cried that he did not deserve what was happening to him.
“I ain’t deserve this, Father God,” he said repeatedly.
Price told reporters the government had assigned him an 87-year-old vessel that suffered from serious defects.
“Everybody knows is an old vessel the government give me to work,” he said.
He alleged that the MV Barima lacked several critical pieces of emergency and navigational equipment.
According to Price, its anchor was non-functional and the vessel had no operational radar, search-and-rescue transponder or Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon.
An EPIRB is designed to transmit a vessel’s location by satellite during an emergency, helping search-and-rescue authorities identify the distress site.
Price also alleged that the vessel’s life rafts had expired in 2022, despite a later maritime inspection that did not result in it being removed from service.
“Those life rafts expired since 2022, and Maritime did an inspection and did not write off that vessel,” he claimed.
Those allegations have not been independently established. The Commission of Inquiry will have to compare them with the ferry’s certificates, inspection reports, maintenance records and safety-equipment inventory.
Public Works Minister Juan Edghill has maintained that no official report declared the MV Barima unseaworthy. He said the ferry was operating within its maintenance schedule and was due for planned dry docking later in 2026.
Price, Roberts and Granderson have been jointly charged with murder and remanded to prison.
They are presumed innocent unless the prosecution proves the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
The MV Barima capsized on July 18 while travelling from Georgetown to Port Kaituma. Authorities have reported that 73 bodies were recovered and at least 30 people remain missing.
The disaster has intensified scrutiny of the vessel’s maintenance, loading, passenger manifest and regulatory oversight.
Survivors and relatives have alleged that the ferry carried too many passengers and excessive cargo. Government officials have denied it was overloaded, relying partly on accounts of its load line before departure.
Todd said the murder prosecution was premature and should not proceed ahead of the specialist maritime investigation.
