Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley has led the tributes in memory of the prominent attorney Ezra Alleyne, who has died at the age of 78.
Alleyne, a long-standing member of the Barbados Labour Party served as deputy speaker of the House from 1967-1968 and as a member of parliament for St Michael North West from 1976 to 1981.
“Ezra displayed an unmatched commitment to research and understanding of the letter and spirit of the law and was never one to argue any matter, in or outside of the courtroom, or Parliament, without a comprehensive understanding of prior arguments or decisions on the subject,” Mottley said in a statement.
Alleyne, who wrote a weekly column in the Nation newspaper, is also best remembered for successfully defending Ronald Biggs, the ‘Great Train Robbery’ fugitive, who was kidnapped from Brazil and taken to Barbados in 1981.
Biggs was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in the US$7.2 million robbery of a Glasgow-to-London mail train in 1963, but he escaped from England’s Wandsworth after two years and eventually made his way to Rio.
Brazilian authorities refused extradition by Britain in 1974 because Biggs was the father of a Brazilian child.
Biggs, who was then 51, was kidnapped from a Rio de Janeiro restaurant on March 16 and taken to Barbados by employees of a security company whose director says he had been paid to take Biggs to a country from which he might be extradited.
But Alleyne successfully defended Briggs during the Barbados extradition proceedings after the British government officially requested and filed extradition documents with the government of Barbados.
For fear of giving the wrong impression though, let me make it clear that Ezra was much more than a politician and lawyer. He was a man possessed of a kind and gentle heart and a spirit of fairness and human understanding that shone through in his every interaction. He was never brash or loud and was not one to insult or tear down, even when he was defending an opposing position,” Mottley said.
Alleyne, who served as a legal adviser to the Public Utilities Board for a decade, was also regarded for his expertise in international business law; double taxation treaties; constitutional and corporate law.
Ezra Alleyne leaves to mourn widow Tassiea and four children, Gayle, Daun, Nathan and Alistair.
CMC
