NO SAILING FOR DEAD

Sources said that a senior official from the Ministry contacted an official from the Science Centre to discuss shipping the bodies of two murder victims and a suicide victim from Tobago, as no autopsies have been done in Tobago for a while. Alexandrov told Newsday any attempt to bring the three bodies on either the barge or ferry which services the sea bridge would be nothing short of, “ludicrous.” He said international forensic standards dictate that of a body is to be transported from one country to another it must be secured in a sealed metal casket to avoid contamination. On April 10, Alexandrov was asked to go to Tobago to perform autopsies since there was no other pathologist to do so.

A Tobago House of Assembly (THA) source said that a pathologist wrote the Assembly claiming a shortage of attendants at the Scarborough Mortuary and as such, no autopsies could be done. Alexandrov said this was a poor excuse since when he (Alexandrov) made his own enquiries, he found there were enough attendants in Tobago to allow for autopsies.

On May 14, Iris Benjamin, 71, of Black Rock committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance.

Up until yesterday, her body remained at the mortuary in Tobago awaiting an autopsy. Her relatives are waiting for the body to be released for final rites so they can get some form of closure.

Two men, Dexter Providence and another who has not been identified as yet, were shot dead at Mason Hall Link Road on Wednesday. They too also remain in cold storage in the Scarborough Mortuary. Alexandrov said he is willing to go to Tobago on one condition. “I will go but I want fair treatment. If Dr (Hughvon) des Vignes does not want to go to Tobago, then let’s exchange.

I will go Tobago if he takes one of my days next week. This is a diplomatic solution...the wolves will be happy and the sheep will be safe.” The Ministry’s consideration of using the sea bridge to transport the three bodies comes at a time when the two vessels on the sea bridge have been prone to breaking down and also do not have proper cold storage facilities for food items far less human bodies.

“What is the logistics of bringing these bodies to Trinidad? This is ludicrous! This is total dementia to bring three bodies on the ferry. They would have to bring crime scene people and officers will be required to transfer the bodies. As far as I see it, this is absolute and total stupidity.

“I am also fearing a contamination of evidence. It is international standard that bodies being carried from one place to another should be put in sealed metal coffins and should not be among the public. I have been in the country for over ten years and I am shocked from time to time by the level of incompetence,” he said.

Calls to National Security Minister Edmund Dillon’s cellphone yesterday went unanswered