October 24, 2012-
Maître Calixte Delatour, l’avocat de Clifford Brandt, rejette les accusations de Kidnapping à l’encontre de son client. Il s’indigne que les autorités n’aient pas pris le soin de spécifier les motifs de l’incarcération en tenant compte des faits. En Haïti un enlèvement n’est pas un kidnapping, explique t-il rappelant que les ravisseurs réalisent leurs forfaits afin d’obtenir des rançons.
Ce cas de figure ne peut s’appliquer à Clifford Brandt, un homme d’affaire, membre de l’une des plus riches familles haïtiennes.
M. Delatour assure que son client n’est pas impliqué dans un kidnapping mais a eu une réaction violente dans le cadre d’un règlement de compte. Il rejette les informations faisant état de rançon réclamé en échange de la libération des deux personnes séquestrées. Pour le juriste M. Clifford Brandt a manifesté de mauvaise manière son ressentiment mais n’était pas impliqué dans un kidnapping.
Calixte Delatour s’oppose à tout amalgame entre les concepts faisant valoir qu’il faut bien spécifier les accusations. Il n’y a pas de synonyme, dit-il précisant que de toute évidence il y a eu règlement de compte. Le juge a pour devoir de restituer au fait sa qualification vraie.
Interrogé sur le projet d’assassiner le secrétaire d’Etat à la sécurité publique, M. Delatour a soutenu qu’une enquête doit prouver l’intérêt de son client à commettre un tel crime. Il rejette ces accusations en faisant remarquer que les mobiles ne peuvent en aucun cas être identiques.
Les avocats de la défense attendent la définition des charges par le commissaire du gouvernement près le tribunal de première instance de Port-au-Prince. Le porte parole de la police, Frantz Lerebours, a affirmé que le dossier sera transmis dans le meilleur délai aux autorités judiciaires.
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Delatour is the best for this case.
He is not bothered much by the truth and will spin a wonderful story, and perhaps win.
While I agree with both your comments, I think this is indicative of a deeper ill in Haitian society. For the past 50 or so years, Haiti has headed deeper and deeper into a morass of immorality. The unspeakable acts which are being committed have gotten progressively worse, the one thread of commonality being the desire for money. Until a zero tolerance stance is taken, this trend of corruption, crime and immorality will continue unabated.
Only in Haiti have I witnessed a known drug dealer accepted into polite society because of the color of his skin and the size of his bank account, while legitimate (equally wealthy) black professionals or businessmen (and their children) are spurned and treated as nothing more than servants.
Things have to change. This incident should finally prove that crime knows no color. It can be committed by anyone, regardless of race, color, creed or education/social background.
They need to arrest his lawyer also for having the nerves to defend this waste. There goes the syrians in haiti folks lol. America sat and watched all these mess up until they kidnapped two people of their own. I guess when it comes to money, the more, the merrier, lol.
@ Georges Lambert, what case do you think Mr. Delatour will win? Are you on crack? They need to arrest you also. You might be one of the gangs.
Samantha-I believe what Lambert may have been implying is sarcasm. Not serious. Sort of like stating the irony, thus a subtle humor.
You people have not watched Delatour in court. He is able to spin this story into reality. I have witnessed his performance on many occasions and -being very black – with a mother who used to sell in the Iron Market – has the sympathy of black Haitian jurors.
Wait and see.
He may be old, but he still has teeth.
Samantha M.- Attorney’s responsibility are to defend their client to the best of their ability. What Me C. Delatour is doing is exactly that. All accused are innocent until proven guilty. That applies to Haitian law also. According to you a lawyer defending a client should be in jail, and the accused should not be allowed an attorney. All accuse have the right to an attorney by law. Your statement that the attorney should be arrested is pure ignorance, from your lack of knowledge about the law. By the way Me C. Delatour is my father, but my comment to you is purely about the law, and not about family relations. I hope that you are never in need of an attorney.
@ Jean Robert,
What color are you implying? You seem to be educated. Don’t you see what considered to be light skin? We can call Mr. Obama a syrian or light skin also, don’t you think? Wow! I am not ill like the rest of you, and I am very thankful that my parents were able to take me out of this mess. These people came from Jamaica, and they were able to build their wealth in our country.I am homesick, but I am fearful to purchase a ticket to visit my homeland because of these morons like Brandt.
Jacques Delatour- I believe you would never say otherwise. They need to search your house too, they might find a list of a few names you and Brandt were thinking of kidnapping in 2013. you people have some nerves!
@Samantha M. Black, white, red (mulatto/ti rouge), syrian and lebanese are all legitimate races in Haiti. Historically, anyone of pure black race in Haiti has been treated as a second class citizen and is looked upon with suspicion by all of the other groups listed. When someone from the black haitian community refers to “blan” they refer to all of the colors I listed. Oh, and by the way…BLAN is also reserved for any foreigner (diaspora included), regardless of their skin tone, so you may very well be considered a “blan” even if you’re so black you leave fingerprints on charcoal (that was a joke…ha ha).
The point I was making in my post is that until we come together as a nation and place one another over the importance of money and racial origin, we will never advance as a nation. The significance of incidents like the Brandt kidnapping will continue to be relegated to a black-white, upper class/lower class race issue and will not be seen for the immoral, heinous act that it is.
@Samantha M. By the way, Brandt is not Syrian. Oswald Brandt came to Haiti from Jamaica just about 80-100 years ago, but he is of British origin. The rest of the Brandt clan are as Haitian as the rest of us…born and raised. I would say they are even more Haitian because they stayed there while many other Haitians left (the reasons why don’t matter). Saying they are not Haitian is like saying Obama is not American because his father is from Kenya and he grew up for a time in the Philippines.
Everybody have a right to an attorney, but it take a lot of gut and no conscience for an attorney to defend a case like that one; as an attorney, you don’t have to lie to effectively defend a client. It is clear that Brandt is guilty (he even confessed). It is not wrong to defend him, but unscrupulous to spin that kind of story and expect people to swallow it. Where is your conscience Maitre Delatour?
Haiti finally has a president with balls to go after these big time criminals.these so call (BOURJOIS) they like cancer for our society.they would kill anyone who goes to haiti to compete with them.Great job Mr president!
I have experienced racism in Haiti as well and, because of the insecurity, I am reluctant to go back there except in organized mission trips. Regarding the Brandt family, I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with wealth. The family has helped Haiti in more than one ways. This must be acknowledged if we must be honest. The notion that wealthy people are evil is pure ignorance. I will probably be never be wealthy, but I don’t harbor any ill will against those who are. There’s always a bad apple in every family, that’s a given. Meanwhile, I think all those who are criticizing Delatour for defending Brandt are part of the Haitian retrograde mentality and barbarian attitude problems. We can never realize a stable Haiti with that mindset. Remember that all suspects/accused are innocent until proven guilty. Everyone one has the right to due process and be defended by a lawyer in the court if law irrespective of the evidence against him/her. Order is quintessential for stability. In fact , ‘order ‘ and ‘stability ‘ can be used interchangeably.
Let the guy do his job. The truth will always prevail.
Now, I don’t expect anyone to admit that he/she is retrograde and a barbarian, but I merely hope that we can view this situation as an opportunity for us to show the world that we are capable of following the law and conduct ourselves in a civilized manner.