Police continue to probe the murder of 14-year-old Malika Hamilton, whose body was pulled out of the Hope Canal on Tuesday, but there have been no arrests so far.
However, a reliable source informed Stabroek News that investigators are currently pursuing several leads and are on the hunt for an individual who may have some knowledge of how the teenager met her demise.
Hamilton’s body was found around 1.30 pm on Tuesday, several miles away from the Hope Canal Bridge, by residents of the community who had ventured into the canal to swim. Hamilton, of Lot 11 Two Sisters Village, East Coast Demerara, had left home on Monday following an argument she had with her father via telephone.
The young woman’s cousin had related to this newspaper that on Monday morning, Hamilton and her father had a heated argument on the telephone. Afterwards, she said that among other things, Hamilton proceeded to say to her that she would kill herself.
The cousin had noted that while she was unaware of the subject of the conversation between the teen and her father, Hamilton did relate to her that “things were getting overbearing.” As a result, she said she tried to comfort her. “I give she meh phone, because I know once she get that she will stay quiet and afterwards she tell meh she going by my sister to plait she hair but never turn up there too,” she had said.
As night approached, the cousin said, family members became worried and started to enquire about the teen. A report was made to the police station while several searches did not turn up any trace of the girl.
It was not until Tuesday afternoon that the girl’s relatives had their worst fears confirmed when news came of the discovery of a body in the canal.
A post-mortem examination performed on Hamilton’s remains on Friday revealed that she died as a result of asphyxiation compounded by trauma to the neck and police are treating her death as a murder.
Hamilton’s mother, Atisha, informed this newspaper that she is determined for justice to be served and for the perpetrator(s) to face the full consequences of the law. The woman said that based on information she received, Hamilton was last seen in the company of two males. “One of them name ‘Satan.’ He and Malika is not even friends, so I want know how she would end up with he,” she stated.
‘Satan’s’ mother, she added, visited her home but she refused to have a conversation with her. Atisha explained, “She come to my house and telling me if she had money she would take a lawyer and bring her son and let everything done but I didn’t want hear nothing.”
