The death of 19-year-old Joel Skeete, the University of Guyana student, who was found dead on the foreshore of the West Bank Demerara days after going missing remains a mystery as numerous questions were left unanswered, something his family has to live with.
“I do have unanswered questions… there are many… the police do not give the impression that they are still investigating the matter. They have stopped at their assumption,” Skeete’s mother Lorenza Griffith told this newspaper when contacted.
With the autopsy confirming Skeete died by drowning, police have ruled the teen’s death as suicide as there were no signs of foul play and Joel’s phone along with a key were found in his pocket.
Months after his death, his mother explained last week that she is still trying to come to grips with reality. Griffith said from her “mother’s intuition” she believes someone was involved in the death of her son.
“I don’t feel the police have exhausted all avenues of their investigative efforts… there are still many questions… but it is what it is,” she said with a tremor in her voice.
The mother pointed out that while police have suggested suicide as the cause of death, her son never illustrated any signs of it.
“I don’t think he had a reason to commit suicide. He had a whole lot to live for and he knew that. Even if UG was challenging for him… he was looking forward to move to the states to further his studies and that was something he was excited about,” the grieving mother stated.
She pointed out that the family was making preparations to migrate to the US so that Skeete could have accessed better opportunities and advance his career.
Asked how she has been coping since the death of her son, the mother stated it is a “daily struggle.”
“It is still very, very hard… many days it is a struggle to get through the day because sometimes you don’t believe it happened and some days you have so many unanswered questions…but you still have to live,” she said.
According to the mother her faith in Christ and support from her church family has aided her in getting by daily.
“My faith in God has been taking me through the days. My prayer every day to God is for the truth to be revealed, that is my prayer… it is still a struggle for me,” she lamented.
On April 6th, Skeete a Computer Science major at UG was discovered among boulders on the river bank in vicinity of Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara.
A statement from his family after he went missing said that Skeete was last seen leaving the barbershop at the Harbour Bridge Mall, at Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara, around 7 pm. He was dressed in a dark red T-shirt, dark grey long jeans, and red slippers.
Griffith previously told this newspaper that the last time she saw and spoke with her son was around 5pm on March 31, when she left him at a shortcut road connecting the East Bank Public Road to Republic Park. “I was going to town. So I dropped him by the shortcut to walk out to the Public Road and I continued to head to town,” she explained.
Griffith further said that her son was in contact with her two more times before he was last seen at the barbershop. “He communicated with me around 6.35 pm that he was now getting his hair cut because apparently he had to wait on the barber. Then at about 7.10 pm I spoke with him and he said he was leaving the barbershop to come home,” the mother told this newspaper.
The woman said that communication with Skeete after their last interaction was unsuccessful. She said that she is uncertain of how Skeete was returning home on Wednesday but added that it was customary for him to use a taxi when he was returning home after dark.
“He would usually walk [home] but if its dark and he’s coming home, the usual thing is to go and get a car to come in because we have some safety concerns in terms of walking in alone when it’s dark,” Griffith said.
