‘My pool was cloudy when Akiel disappeared’

ANNELORE JAMES contradicted her daughter Carrie yesterday by stating that their swimming pool at Haleland Park, Maraval, was cloudy on the day that Akiel Chambers disappeared.

Because of the condition of the pool, Annelore said she had to put granulated chlorine in the water. The pool was so cloudy that she could not see the bottom. On Tuesday, Carrie said the pool was very clear and if there was a body there, she would have certainly seen it. Annelore continued her evidence yesterday before Coroner Sherman Mc Nicolls. She said after Akiel went missing, she suggested to his aunt Valerie Pascall to make a report to the police. She said Pascall left but returned one hour later with two policemen. Asked by the Coroner if she told her husband Charles James that a boy was missing, Annelore said no. “I did not tell him anything because we did not know where Akiel was. He could have travelled. I did not mention anything to him. I wasn’t sure what happened.”
CORONER: Do you think it was important to tell your husband?
WITNESS: No, at that time, we were only discussing what happened. But I did tell him on the Sunday.

Annelore said Pascall returned with policemen from the Maraval Police Station. She said they looked around the pool, but nothing was found. The following day, around 6 am, her husband left for the race track. Minutes later, she put chlorine in the pool because the water was cloudy. She could not see the bottom. She still did not tell her husband anything. Once she did not hear anything from Pascall, she thought everything was okay.
CORONER: Did it occur to anyone that the pool should be emptied?
WITNESS: No, I did not think that the boy was there.
CORONER: The possibility existed that the boy may have drowned?
WITNESS: I did not think so.

Annelore said around 9 am, her daughter Carrie and two friends wanted to swim. She informed them that she had put chlorine in the water and that it would irritate their eyes. The children went into the pool, but was out after half an hour because the chlorine was affecting their eyes. “I could not see the bottom, I am positive about that.” Annelore said the police returned at 10 am. One policeman shouted “what is that?” The witness said she looked down and saw something red. “I couldn’t tell what it was. It looked like a shadow, something round. I did not know what it was.” Annelore started to cry in the witness box when she recalled that the body was that of Akiel Chambers. “It never occurred to me that somebody drowned in my pool, that a body was in my pool. I believe that when my daughter was swimming, that body could have been there.” Annelore said when the police pulled Akiel’s body from the pool, she was blank, she could not believe it. “I would like to find out what really happened. I need to know,” the witness told the Coroner. Annelore said after Akiel’s body was found, she tried to reach her husband by cell phone, but it seemed that the phone was off. “I knew he was going to the race track, but I can’t say where he went. He returned home around 4 o’clock. It was then that I told him what happened. He was speechless.”