ICAR Slams Judiciary Over Delayed Cannabis Ruling, Calls for Accountability in Missing Evidence Scandal
Castries, Saint Lucia – August 6, 2025 — The Iyanola Council for the Advancement of Rastafari and Pan African People (ICAR) has expressed outrage over what it describes as judicial double standards and a deepening crisis of public trust in the police force.
In a strongly worded statement issued Wednesday, ICAR President Aaron Ras Iron Alexander criticized the swift High Court ruling declaring the buggery law unconstitutional, while noting that the council’s own constitutional motion—filed in 2021 to decriminalize cannabis for sacramental use—remains unresolved. “We have taken serious umbrage with the fact that the courts have rendered such a swift verdict in this matter… yet our case has not yet received a verdict,” Alexander said. He questioned whether the judiciary was influenced by “internal or external forces,” adding that if the Attorney General can challenge the ruling, “then the Crown should do so.”
The ICAR leader argued that keeping cannabis criminalized while legalizing what he called “unnatural behaviours” reflected a troubling inconsistency in the nation’s legal priorities. “We must remember in the animal kingdom… males are never attracted to males because this is not the natural order of life,” he stated, urging that such attractions be treated medically or psychologically, as was done before the 1970s.
Turning to the recent revelation of missing evidence in the high-profile Kimberly De Leon and Shakadan Daniel murder cases, ICAR commended Police Commissioner Vern Guard for being “straight and truthful” but insisted that he must take full responsibility for what it described as “a shameful, disgusting and corrupt police cover-up.”
While some critics have targeted Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre over the scandal, Alexander stressed that the issue rests squarely with the police force. He said the public must not allow the matter to be “swept under the carpet” and called for regional investigators from the Regional Security System (RSS) to lead the probe, warning that the public would not accept local officers “investigating their own.”
The council also linked the current scandal to lingering questions over the death of K-9 officer Tyson, urging transparency and accountability. “Evidence disappearing, what’s next? Witnesses disappearing? How much trust will the public have left in the police force if this is not resolved?” Alexander asked.
He pledged that ICAR will closely monitor developments and is “ready to take public action if necessary” to ensure justice is served.
