Police yesterday rescheduled the autopsy of miner Wilberforce Kendall for a third time, leaving relatives infuriated and convinced that corruption will prevent them from getting justice.
Many of the man’s overseas-based relatives will be returning to their homes today and have said that “they are fed up with the system and the further trauma they have been made to endure.”
The autopsy will now be conducted on Monday.
Speaking on the investigation earlier in the day, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said that the police were awaiting the results of the autopsy. According to him, there was nothing to suggest that foul play was involved in the man’s death but there was a mark on his chest.
Kendall’s upset sister Carmelita John told Stabroek News that at the mortuary relatives were assured that the post mortem would be done. She said that she believed that Kendall’s body would be the first to be examined due to the decomposing state but it was not. After more that twenty bodies were examined, relatives were informed that the autopsy would not be done. “The family is very, very upset and frustrated over this situation. No one is telling us anything… I am leaving and they can do whatever they want with it (the body). These people have no regard for people. They feel that when they turn you upside down money will be falling out of your pockets,” an emotional John told this newspaper.
The woman who resides overseas said that Kendall always told her that if anything was to happen to him the family should not come to Guyana but because of the circumstances surrounding his death she and others decided to come.
She told Stabroek News that the pilot, Bernard Singh, the last person to see her brother alive, has not yet visited to offer his condolences to the family. The woman said that her brother always spoke highly of Singh. She angrily said that instead of looking for him to question him further, the police are giving them a hard time. John said that all they wanted to do was to come back and properly dispose of the remains.
Meanwhile, the man’s wife Desley added that she too is frustrated and is hoping that the autopsy is done on Monday and no later. She said that all her in-laws are very upset over the situation and now she will be alone since they are leaving. She said that initially she was told that the pathologist will be taken into the area to conduct the post mortem but realised that that will never happen.
The woman said that she bore all the expenses to ensure that the body was brought to the city on Sunday. She added that the post-mortem was planned for Monday and then it was rescheduled to Wednesday. On that day it was pushed back to yesterday.
According to reports, Singh and Kendall left their mining camp located at Orokang, Mazaruni last Tuesday. Kendall had a quantity of raw gold in his possession. The two were to make a one hour journey to Singh’s plane which was an airstrip in the Orokang area and then fly to the city.
The following day, the pilot returned alone, saying that Kendall had drowned. From all accounts on his return to the camp, the pilot told the miners in the camp that he had landed the plane on the Orokang side of the Mazaruni River and had told Kendall that he would fly to the Chi Chi area while he (Kendall) would swim across.
The pilot related that after he failed to see Kendall he started to walk down to the spot where he should have been but did not see him. When he looked across the river, he saw Kendall’s clothing.
The pilot and the other members of the camp formed a search party and after four days, found his bloated body face down in a basin in the Mazaruni River. The body passed through three big falls and rapids. The man’s relatives and friends are convinced that Kendall could not have drowned and that there is more to his death.