10-day delays for Tobago autopsies

On Friday, Newsday. exclusively reported. that a senior official. from the National Security. Ministry had. contacted an official. from the centre to discuss. shipping the bodies. of two murder victims. and a suicide victim. from Tobago. Forensic. pathologist Dr Valery. Alexandrov described. the plan as “ludicrous”,. expressed fear about. contamination of evidence. and said he was. willing to go to Tobago. to perform the autopsies. provided that fellow pathologist. Dr Hughvon. des Vignes takes one of. his days this week.

A Tobago House of. Assembly source said. a pathologist claimed. there was 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 made his own. enquiries, he found. there were enough attendants. in Tobago to. allow for autopsies.

Yesterday Moore said. to solve the problem of. Tobago autopsies there. should be a pathologist. permanently rostered. in Tobago. She said. some may argue that. the State can send pathologists. to Tobago to. do autopsies, which has. been the practice, but. this arrangement also. brings challenges. She. explained the pathologists. receive no extra. fees, have to pay their. own parking at the airport. and are responsible. for their own transportation.

“There is a cost to. them personally to do. this. This sets up poor. working environment.

Add to that to the uncertainty. of travelling. (to Tobago) and it is. very frustrating.”. Moore said the pathologists. must receive. benefits for travelling. between the islands. and it should not fall on. them personally to pay. the costs. She also called. for the forensics department. in Tobago to be. properly resourced.

She said there is no. outcry in Tobago as yet. but there is an inordinate. lag in autopsies. when deaths occur and. they are not done on. the same day as happens. in Trinidad. She added. that the wait for autopsies. is sometimes up to. 10 days and this has become. “routine”.

“It seems as though. in planning and operationalising. this arm of. state resources Tobago. was an afterthought.”. National Security. Minister Edmund Dillon. yesterday said he has. requested a report from. Forensic Science Centre. director Arlette Lewis. over the plan to ship the. bodies.

He explained the. ministry had dealt with. this situation in the past. and the instruction is. that one pathologist has. to go to Tobago.

“As director she must. take control of the situation.

I do not see the. sense with sending the. bodies to Trinidad. The. director has to sort that. out. If she can’t then I. will intervene,” he added.

Asked about the. time line for Lewis to. submit the report, Dillon. said it “must be. treated with as a matter. of urgency.”. Dillon reported. he “got wind of ” the. plan to ship the bodies. during Parliament. on Friday and he was. “very much concerned.”. He explained this is an. inconvenience to the. family who would have. to come from Tobago. for the autopsy and then. take back the body for. burial.

Speaking to reporters. during the Prison Service. Annual Sports and. Family Day, Prison Service. Sports Complex,. Arouca, Dillon also said. he has directed Lewis. to go through the ministry’s. permanent secretary. to “deal with the. situation” by getting one. of the pathologists to go. to Tobago to perform. the autopsies.

“If there are any issues. pertaining to them then. plan B would of course. be to contract a pathologist. and let he or she. go to Tobago and we. will deal with the issues. of those who were reluctant. to go to Tobago,” he. said.

The three bodies in. question are that of Iris. Benjamin, 71, of Black. Rock who committed. suicide by consuming a. poisonous substance on. May 14, and two men,. Dexter Providence and. another who has not. been identified as yet,. who were shot dead at. Mason Hall Link Road. on Wednesday. The. bodies remain at the. Scarborough Mortuary.

Benjamin’s relatives are. waiting for her body. to be released for final. rites.

Three calls to the cellphone. of Tobago House. of Assembly Chief Secretary. Kelvin Charles. yesterday.