The post-mortem examination (PME) on the remains of Wilberforce Kendall who was found floating in the Mazaruni River has been postponed and during a viewing yesterday relatives noticed what appeared to be several suspicious wounds on the upper body.
His wife Desley told Stabroek News yesterday that when she arrived at the Lyken’s Funeral Home where the body is being kept she was told that the PME had been deferred to tomorrow because there was no pathologist available.
Yesterday several of the man’s close relatives arrived in the country and viewed the body which has already begun to decompose.
One relative told this newspaper last evening that marks of violence were visible to the neck and chest. He said that they are anxiously awaiting the PME which would determine how the man died.
The circumstances surrounding the death of the 37-year-old miner of Palmyra, East Berbice, are unclear but Divisional Commander (ag) Deryck Younge had told this newspaper that the man was found floating in the river close to Chi Chi. He said that the information he received was that the man was on a plane that was delivering goods when the pilot told him that he would have to be left behind as his weight made the aircraft too heavy. When the pilot returned, he reportedly found the man missing but his clothing was at the river side.
A search party was subsequently formed and Kendall who has been working in the interior for several years was found.
Stabroek News made several attempts to contact the pilot who is Kendall’s business partner but was unsuccessful. Desley who travelled here from Canada where she resides on receiving news of his disappearance said that she, too, has been unable to reach the pilot.