Former Premier Hon. Sharlene Cartwright Robinson is calling for the entire country to pray for the former first lady of Haiti, Martine Moïse, whose husband and President of that country, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated by paid international mercenaries last week.
Cartwright Robinson’s call came on the heels of reports that a key suspect, 63-year-old Christian Emmanuel was apprehended.
Referring to Moise’s killing as hateful and misguided, Cartwright Robinson, the first female premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, said the former first lady needs the TCI’s prayers for physical and mental healing.
The now Former First Lady of Haiti continues to fight for her life; a life that she will have to rebuild living without her husband,” she Cartwright Robinson said. “He was first and foremost her husband and then the father of her children. She needs our prayers for physical and mental healing and for strength ahead. Her toughest battles are yet ahead. This is not a movie; this is her life - a true story.”
She said the assassination of Moïse might have been the couple’s worst fears realized, noting that no family should undergo such trauma.
“Thinking the fate that has befallen her husband could have been his and her worse fears realised. It is always in the back of conscious leaders' minds (whether politicians or CEOs) that one day someone so hateful, misguided or disgruntled can and will try to physically harm you. No one deserves this and definitely no family member,” she said.
She added: “Let us pray for First Lady Moïse, her children, and the entire family and country of The Late President.”
President Moïse, 53, was killed at his residence on 7 July, by 28 foreign mercenaries, the police said earlier.
His wife was injured in the attack, and then flown to the US for treatment.
Police in Haiti said they have arrested a doctor they believe is a key suspect in organising last week's assassination.
They say Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a 63-year-old Haitian national, flew into the country on a private jet in early June with "political motives".
Sanon’s arrest was announced at a police briefing late on Sunday in the capital Port-au-Prince.
"This is an individual who entered Haiti on a private plane with political objectives," said Haiti's police chief Leon Charles.
He said the initial plan had been to arrest President Moïse, but "the mission then changed". He did not elaborate.
"When we, the police, blocked the progress of these bandits after they committed their crime, the first person that one of the assailants called was Christian Emmanuel Sanon," said Mr Charles.
"He contacted two other people that we consider to be the masterminds of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse." The police chief did not say who the other two people were.
A delegation of senior US security and justice officials on Sunday arrived in Haiti to assess the security situation.