Nearly two months after the deadly sinking of Guyanese cargo vessel MV Barima that left 72 people dead, the 2026 maritime tragedy has taken a dramatic legal turn: three senior crew members now face 72 counts of murder, one for each victim recovered from the disaster site.
Announced by Guyanese law enforcement authorities on July 28, 2026, the charges name vessel captain Kevin Price, Chief Mate Rondell Roberts, and Goods Superintendent Delon Granderson as the accused parties. The high-stakes case has captivated communities across the Caribbean and attracted international scrutiny, with officials already moving forward to launch a formal Commission of Inquiry (COI) to unpack the sequence of events that led to the disaster.
The three accused are represented by seasoned defense attorney Dexter Todd, a legal figure best known to Belizean audiences as the former counsel for high-profile defendant William “Danny” Mason. Todd has emerged as a sharp critic of the prosecution’s timeline, arguing that law enforcement has overstepped by reaching a conclusive legal determination before the independent public inquiry completes its work.
In comments given to local outlet Guyana’s News Room, Todd outlined the procedural path of the case so far. “The police have done what the Commission of Inquiry is supposed to do. And they have already come to a definitive conclusion on this matter,” he said. Initial hearings were held before the chief magistrate, before the case was transferred to the Charity Magistrate’s Court—body with the proper jurisdiction over the matter. The legal team has requested an early evidence disclosure hearing scheduled for August 3, where they will lay out preliminary legal challenges to the charges.
Todd emphasized that the rapid pace of the investigation fails to match the complexity of the disaster, calling the early filing of murder charges “completely unfair and an injustice.” He explained that a thorough probe requires piecing together multiple overlapping lines of evidence, a core reason the government established the independent COI in the first place. Adding to the irregularity, Todd noted that Captain Price—who would be a key witness for the inquiry’s fact-finding process—remains behind bars, unable to contribute to the public investigation.
This report is a curated adaptation of a televised evening news broadcast transcript, with all quoted content preserved accurately from the original recording.