The body of Dovan Sheppard, a Constable attached to the New Amsterdam Municipality was pulled from the Republic Canal at about 1800 hrs yesterday, hours after she had left to attend a wake house .
The mother of two, who lived at Alexander Street, New Amsterdam, never arrived at her destination, which was Lot 56 Stanleytown, also in the Berbice township.
She was subsequently found partially clad in her dark blue uniform trousers and shoes. A ring was on her right ring finger, while a hand bag remained around her neck. A black plastic bag containing peanuts and tortillas remained on the handle of her red bicycle which was also submerged in the weed-infested waterway.
Her son, Akeem Sheppard was not at home when his mother left on Saturday but was told that she had gone to the wake for one of her colleagues’ brother and had failed to return home, something which was unlike her.
Searches were carried out and her body was spotted floating in the Republic Park Canal in the vicinity of the Savannah Park Housing scheme, and the Stanleytown Cemetery.
Town Clerk Sharon Alexander, Constabulary Sergeant Paul Beaton, other senior staffers and several of Sheppard’s colleagues and friends openly wept as the body was retrieved from the waterway.
Beaton said Sheppard worked with the municipality for over ten years and was scheduled to work yesterday morning but calls to her cellular phones went unanswered after she failed to report for duty.
Her colleagues surmised that their comrade may have experienced a seizure whilst riding, resulting in her losing control of the bicycle and ending up in the waterway.
Investigations are continuing.
