MONSTER ON THE LOOSE

With Wednesday’s ruling by Coroner Sherman McNicolls that the death by drowning of 11-year schoolboy, Akiel Chambers, was not accidental and there were grounds to suspect that someone or persons had been responsible for it, the Police should seek to act with dispatch in the matter.

Troubling evidence emerged at the Inquest into young Akiel’s death which would lead Desmond Allum SC, one of a team of lawyers representing the interests of the Chambers’ family, to note in his final address that based on the postmortem it was clear that Akiel had been sexually abused around the time he had disappeared. In addition, he would declare that there had been an abundance of evidence that Akiel’s body had been placed in the pool the day after he disappeared!

In turn, the Court prosecutor, Acting Inspector Kenneth Cordner, would state, again based on the evidence, that young Akiel had been subjected to prolonged sexual abuse by someone. Does all of this mean that an unkown monster is on the loose, an adult male predator? Will he strike again, and has he struck since Akiel’s death? Does he seduce other little boys, around Akiel’s age, subjecting them to the torture of sexual abuse, prolonged or otherwise? Who is this sick mind, this pervert who preys on the innocence of pre-teen males? Are young boys, similarly positioned, as was Akiel Chambers, at ongoing risk?

We are shocked and troubled as the rest of society of which we are part, by the intimation of alleged sexual abuse offered at the recently concluded Inquest, sexual abuse which we know is widespread.
McNicolls, who presided at the Inquest held at the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court, had said there was something disturbing about the case, and had been understandably diplomatic in his choice of words when he offered the view that the matter needed more microscopic examination and further investigations.

There would be a need to see what assistance could be sourced abroad, specifically with respect to DNA testing of the pants found on Chambers, when his body was pulled out of a Maraval swimming pool, the Coroner pointed out, as there were no facilities available here for such testing. Akiel Chamber’s body was found in a pool on May 24, 1998 at the Haleland Park home of Charles and Annelore James, the day after he had attended a birthday party there and reportedly went missing. No one could find the child the evening and night of the party, in the pool, in the house or on the grounds. Yet the child’s body suddenly turns up in the pool the next morning!
Demond Allum would sum up the feelings of many when, in addressing the Coroner, he observed: “This has been a stain on the conscience of the society. There are a number of persons who want to keep the truth away from you.” We sincerely hope, though, that the truth will come out.