Dead girl’s ghost haunts Dayton

ON a bleak Wednesday morning, May 4, 1983, teenager Dianne Smith was making her way to school along the Old Stony Hill Road in St Andrew when she was snatched, mercilessly ravaged, and her lifeless body dumped in a gully.

Had Dr Dayton Campbell taken the time to research the baseless rumour that the youthful Daryl Vaz had murdered the Immaculate High School student, he might not have repeated it publicly, leading to his humble pie-eating apology last week.

On Wednesday, Campbell, the People’s National Party (PNP) general secretary, settled a lawsuit brought against him by Vaz in which the now energy minister said he had been defamed by Campbell in the throes of a speech at a PNP meeting in Clarendon on July 27, 2023.

The suit was filed in the Supreme Court, but as the trial was about to start, Vaz pulled back, agreeing to settle for an apology and legal fees amounting to $1.5 million.

Speaking with the media outside the courtroom following the adjournment of the matter, a visibly contrite Campbell said:

“Comments were made which unwittingly communicated something that I didn’t want to communicate, because there was no basis for me to suggest anything that was being alleged, and therefore we sat down, discussed the matter, and came to an understanding. I offered an unreserved apology, a copy of which will be published.”

Ann-Marie Vaz lamented the damage caused by rumours about her husand, Daryl Vaz.

Thirteen years ago, on March 31, 2013, at the height of the Easter season, award-winning writer Desmond Allen authored a full-length story on Vaz breaking his 27-year silence on the Dianne Smith murder saga that was carried by the Sunday Observer. Campbell, apparently, had not read that story.

Following is a truncated version of the Desmond Allen piece titled ‘Vaz says enough! After 27 years MP addresses Dianne Smith murder rumours’:

From the grave of an innocent schoolgirl, on this Easter Sunday, comes a cry for justice against those responsible for the spilling of her blood.

But Dianne Smith cries from the after-life, not just for herself for she knows that there is one other whose innocence has also been stolen and whose crucifixion was equally undeserved.

For 27 years Daryl Wesley Vaz has been locked up in a prison of pain and hurt, dogged through every phase of his life by the nastiest of orchestrated rumours that, among other things, he raped and murdered Smith, a student of the Immaculate Conception High School.

Smith was on her way to school along Old Stony Hill Road on May 4, 1983 when she was raped, stabbed, strangled, and her body dumped in a gully.

Late former Prime Minister Michael Manley who apologised to Daryl Vaz for defamatory graffiti appearing in a PNP campaign.

In a sense, Dianne Smith’s misery is over. Her lithe, 14-year-old body, battered and bruised and robbed of life, is forever beyond the pale of human cruelty.

But for Daryl Vaz the misery lingers on. And it is never more painful than when he must admit to himself that — forget opponents, political and otherwise — even among party colleagues, with whom he must eat, drink and share political thought, this dreadful treachery is perpetrated. No doubt for personal and political agendas.

Yet, he draws deep consolation from a reassuring call from then Opposition Leader Michael Manley in 1986 who, “speaking as a father myself”, condemned the graffiti and accusation hurled from a political campaign at Birdsucker Lane, Barbican, St Andrew.

“He called first my father (Douglas Vaz) and then me to apologise. I have always accepted that apology as genuine and not as if he were calling to accept his party’s responsibility,” said Vaz, his face now a mask of gratitude and emotion.

Vaz is not the first and is unlikely to be the last to be wrongly accused of a crime he did not commit. The question that might never be answered is why was he targeted in the first place.

The accusation first surfaced in 1986, three years after the murder. His name never came up during the intense police investigations that followed, neither was it mentioned even once in the 1984 court trial of the two men accused of the murder.

“There is absolutely no evidence to connect him (Vaz) to the case,” said Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Isadore “Dick” Hibbert, the top detective who helped to lead the investigations 30 years ago.

Former Justice Minister Mark Golding who was sent an email containing rumours about Daryl Vaz.

“In fact, his name was never called at any time during the intense investigations started in 1983, and I am very puzzled as to why he was subsequently associated with this murder,” Hibbert told the
Sunday Observer. “Whenever we were investigating a case, we looked into everything, including rumours, to find leads. The name Daryl Vaz just didn’t come up at all.”

Convinced that he could not be his own best defender, Vaz has carried the burden, maintained silence, toughing it out but always knowing that it could not be easy for his wife, children, other family members and close friends.

In a 2009 interview on the hustings, his obviously in love wife, Ann-Marie Vaz, told a newspaper reporter that politics had damaged their marriage.

“It’s been exhausting for me as a wife and mother. To see what my husband has been through to prove his passion for the constituency has been emotionally draining,” she told writer Howard Campbell. “I never wanted anything to do with politics. It caused a lot of damage to our marriage initially.

Friends and supporters of the West Portland Member of Parliament have started to ask Vaz why he has broken his silence now, and are questioning the motive for the resurgence of the rumour. Why not let this terrible thing remain in the grave where it belongs?

“Even Nelson Mandela got justice after 27 years. It’s my time now,” Vaz insisted.

Former National Security Minister Peter Bunting who was among officials sent damaging e-mail against Daryl Vaz.

The issue resurrected itself last week in a rather innocuous way, in a popular weekly feature titled ‘Crimes that rocked the nation’, written for the
Sunday Observer by Sybil Hibbert, the veteran journalist and Jamaica’s greatest court reporter (now deceased). She is also the wife of Retired ACP Hibbert, himself rated among the island’s top detectives of his time and, importantly, who investigated the Dianne Smith rape/murder case.

Sybil, now in her 70s, and whose name is highly respected in the legal fraternity here, wrote: “Before dealing with the evidence that unfolded before the Home Circuit Court in this case, let me state categorically that the rumour noised abroad about the politician (Daryl Vaz), now Member of Parliament, being connected with, or having anything to do with this murder, is absolutely untrue.

“Apart from the fact that this politician’s name was never mentioned in the proceedings, my husband, Isadore Hibbert, was one of the detectives investigating this murder. The most thorough police investigations revealed no such connections; he was early on the scene and confirms this.

“Besides, after spending 40 years and seven months in the Jamaica Constabulary Force, he retired with an unblemished record after acting as (high as) deputy commissioner in charge of crime for two years…”

If Vaz had wanted to maintain his silence, he could no longer. The article brought out his enemies, some internal and external, he said. In a spate of cruel e-mail ignoring the facts as stated by the lead investigator, they again accused him of the murder.

One of the e-mail authors who has been most persistent and uses the pseudonym “Anecia Brown” wrote: “All members of Jamaica media who know of the connection of Daryl Vaz to Dianne Smith murder please contact City Desk at 306-657-6442 or 306-657-6258.”

Former Prime Minister P J Patterson who was also sent damaging e-mail about Daryl Vaz.

The e-mail was sent to all the media houses and individuals including Abe Dabdoub; A Creary; A J Nicholson, the foreign minister; Peter Bunting, the national security minister; and Mark Golding, justice minister.

The phone numbers when called by media houses turned out to be those of a Canadian newspaper,
The Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

Responding to the Sunday Observer’s query about the e-mail, Managing Editor Heather Persson said: “No such person [Anecia Brown] works for
The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, and the newsroom had nothing to do with that e-mail.”

Vaz, as he has always done in the face of adversity, pledged to do everything to find the truth, even after 27 years, and unmask the authors of the emails and bring them to justice — not just for himself but for others who have suffered similar attacks upon their reputation.

Born on December 15, 1963, Daryl Wesley Philip Vaz is a man of destiny. He has had to prove himself every step of the way and be ready to roll with the punches. It’s what he’s now very good at and what he’s done all his controversial life.

“I have tried over the last several years to prove who the real Daryl Vaz is, as a result of all the rumours, innuendoes and propaganda that have been spread about me,” he told the Sunday Observer in a previous interview.

The entrance to Immaculate Conception High School, which was attended by Dianne Smith.

Those rumours, innuendoes and propaganda coincided with the time he got his first taste of representational politics, running successfully as councillor in the Waterloo Division of his old man’s St Andrew North Central constituency in 1986. Specifically, it was then that the rape/murder rumours surfaced.

“It came up in a graffiti at Birdsucker Lane saying Daryl Vaz raped and killed Dianne Smith,” the politician recalled. “Within a matter of hours Michael Manley called my father and then me. He said: ‘I am calling as a father myself to apologise and to tell you that I have given the [PNP] leadership in the constituency one hour to buy paint and paint out all graffiti.’

“He never said that it was the PNP who did it,” said Vaz. “It was just the decency of the man.

“Ironically, at the time the murder was committed I was residing/attending school at the Miami-Dade Community College in Florida. I returned to Jamaica after the incident, with my now ex-wife, to live in Jamaica.

“This innuendo has been used against me since 1986 and it has been used in various scenarios. In fact, even when I launched the Citizens for Civil Society, a letter was written to the commissioner of police containing the allegations.

“For 27 years it has been used against me, thankfully unsuccessfully, to assassinate my character. It has been used in all of my elections, internal and otherwise. I have never responded to it, simply because nothing I can say will make a difference to those cowards who wish to perpetrate these baseless, slanderous rumours,” said Vaz.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton who was sent e-mail defaming Daryl Vaz.

“I cannot be my own defender in this matter but I am happy and relieved that this rumour has finally been independently responded to by credible persons, knowing that my heart is pure and my conscience is clear. I have had no choice as a young man but to use this adversity to strengthen me and my family, to overcome this cruelty of human nature, and I have done so,” he said.

“A lesser man than me would be in either the mad house or the crack house, but in life I turn adversity into opportunity. I have been vindicated by the most important people — and that is the people of Jamaica who keep electing me.

“I have been able to live my true love in service to my country and my people and be vindicated by my success at it. I have also been successful in business, despite the ups and downs, using my name and my face, instead of hiding, to become one of the most well known personalities in this country,” he said.

Vaz said he could not think of any successful national figure in Jamaica who has not had to sustain and undergo some of the most terrible rumours and innuendos.

“There is always a residual of negatives about successful people, and I have undergone this. As one who has suffered more than most, I appeal to our nation not to indulge in this unkindness which can destroy people’s lives. Not everyone will be as strong as I am and will have the faith that has always carried me through,” he said.

Vaz suggested that he was being attacked because of his assertive personality and reputation as a straight-talker in politics. But he took consolation in the view that “Jamaican people don’t stone fluxy mango”.

“I am a victim of my success, even from as a young man. My opponents of all types have seen and feared my leadership abilities. It is not entirely surprising that these rumours have continued. Dianne Smith is one that has stuck. They have said everything about me at one stage or another.

Daryl Vaz… recently got Dayton Campbell’s apology.

“They have only heard one side of the orchestrated campaign,” he said. “I want people to be able to get the facts. But it is important to underline that this is not necessarily coming from any party but from individuals within the parties, including the JLP.

“I enjoy very good relationships with some members of the ruling PNP. In fact, I am godfather to the son of a member of the Cabinet whom I prefer not to name to insulate him from any of the attacks on me,” he said.

Vaz, however, made it clear he would continue to fight to serve his country. Having spoken, he will now put this rumour behind him.

“I serve notice that I will go as far as I can, wherever the road takes me and as far as the people want me to. I hold no venom or hatred. I forgive my detractors for they know not what they do, and there is no better time to give forgiveness than on this holy Easter Sunday,” he said philosophically.

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EPILOGUE

The Jamaica Observer understands that Campbell, in categorically apologising to Vaz and his family for the statements, agreed “not to repeat them or the innuendos and insinuations at any time in the future”.

“I intended no malice when the statements were made, but I accept that they had the potential to cause pain and embarrassment to Mr Vaz and his family. I hereby unequivocally withdraw the statements I made on the aforementioned date because, to the best of my knowledge, the statements and/or the innuendos and insinuations contained therein have no foundation in truth and are in fact categorically false,” said Campbell as part of his apology.

The apology, issued in his capacity as PNP general secretary, will be placed on all Campbell’s social media platforms in video format by midday today and must not be removed until a month from that date.

Campbell must also contract both national newspapers to carry the video recordings of his apology on their social media platforms, and the print version of his apology in their Sunday, July 12 (yesterday) print publications.

Campbell, the Observer understands, has agreed to pay the $1.5 million within six months of July 22 this year, to settle the legal fees associated with the suit.