Inquest into death of Akiel starts today

The inquest into the death of 11-year-old Akiel Chambers, whose body was found in a Maraval pool on May 24 1998 following a pool-party at the home of a classmate, is set to begin today. Chambers was last seen during a pool-party on May 23 at the home of local race-horse mogul Charles James. The party, intended to celebrate the 11th birthday of James’s youngest daughter Carie, was marred by the disappearance of and subsequent death of Chambers. Chambers’ aunt and maternal guardian Valerie Pascall, dressmaker residing on Henry Street Port-of-Spain,  was horrified when she arrived at the party at around 6 pm and found the 11-year-old’s clothes but could not locate him. Following a frantic inspection by Pascall, passionate examination of the area by friends, and a meticulous search by police officers attached to the Maraval Police Station, the body was not found. When the police returned to the scene on the following day, the body of young Chambers was reportedly found in a crouched position at the bottom of the back-yard pool.

Pascall maintains that she instructed her nephew not to go into the pool, but there are conflicting eye-witness reports regarding his whereabouts during the party. A post-mortem performed by forensic pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes revealed that Chambers had been the victim of sexual molestation which dated back a few years. In addition to the marks of sexual molestation, traces of fresh human spermatozoa were allegedly found during the post-mortem. According to des Vignes, this is an indication that Chambers had experienced molestation within a few hours of his death. Chambers’ mother Deborah was residing in London at the time of the incident. His father, Rawle, with whom he lived following his mother’s migration in 1996, placed him in the care of his aunt in order to facilitate his education at Blackman’s Private School in Maraval. When in April 2000 the death was ruled an accidental drowning, the family’s attorney Donna Prowell-Raphael sent a letter to then DPP Mark Mohammed detailing her client’s dissatisfaction with the ruling. Less than a month later, Mohammed, ordered that the inquiry be re-opened. The inquest will commence today before a Port-of-Spain magistrate at NIPDEC house.