Sahab Jamshidi.
HAMILTON SPECTATOR - It will be an additional three weeks before Sahab Jamshidi learns whether he will face trial in St. Lucia.
A sufficiency hearing for the Hamilton man — charged in the Feb. 22 drowning death of a four-year-old St. Lucian boy — has been adjourned until May 13, family friend Stephen Verbeek told the Spectator from court Friday morning.
Jamshidi is charged with gross negligence or recklessness causing death in the death of T.J. Elibox, who drowned at the beach during a church outing on the island’s Independence Day.
Conflicting stories continue to circulate the island about what happened to TJ.
Police allege the boy drowned after Jamshidi (who was there on vacation, visiting friends from his medical school days) took him out into the water on his kite board. Jamshidi — a trained doctor — maintains that he was out on the water kite surfing when he first spotted four-year-old TJ drowning, and called for help after he failed to rescue him.
It’s unclear what exactly the evidence shows.
Even when Jamshidi, 34, arrived in court Friday morning — supported by family and friends who’d flown down from Canada — he and lawyer Alberton Richelieu had yet to see the details of the police’s evidence against him.
On Thursday, the family posted a statement to social media urging the St. Lucian government and police “to respect their own legislation” and provide disclosure.
In court Friday the judge ordered the Director of Public Prosecutions to disclose the case to Jamshidi and his lawyer ahead of the May 13 hearing.
Verbeek — both a friend and employer of Jamshidi — says the family is trying to remain optimistic.
“The mood’s a bit lighter today. Believe it or not a May 13 adjournment is much better news than we were anticipating,” Verbeek said — noting they were told it is common for cases there to be put over for several months at a time.
Sahar, Jamshidi’s sister (who remained in Canada with her family) agrees—their biggest fear is that the case will be drawn out for months or years.
For now, she says they are just hoping to finally get their hands on the case against him, and are actively in contact with consular officials on the island.
“We were hoping for some concrete information to come forward today and we were disappointed we didn’t see that,” she said.
“We are hoping that before May 13, there will be enough information provided to Sahab’s lawyer that he can prepare a defence for him.”