DNA testing confirms burnt remains to be those of missing witness

DNA testing has confirmed that the charred remains found in a torched car at Mahaicony more than two months ago are those of missing witness Colin Rodney Jr.

Crime Chief (ag) Michael Kingston on Friday told Stabroek News that the police uplifted the results on Wednesday and they confirmed that the remains were those of Rodney Jr.

The DNA testing was conducted by the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory (GFSL).

Kingston explained that upon receipt of the results, he personally contacted Rodney’s mother, Jacqueline Hunter, to whom the remains have since been handed over for burial/cremation.

Last week, Director of the GFSL Delon France told Stabroek News that the DNA testing had been completed and the results were being reviewed.

“…We have completed the test and are currently going through the review process in accordance with our quality management system outlined in the international standards documents for laboratory testing,” France had said.

The samples were handed over to the GFSL sometime in the first half of

November.

The charred remains were found on the afternoon of November 1st in the trunk of a torched car at Letter T, Mahaicony.

The Guyana Revenue Authority later confirmed that the burnt car belonged to Rodney.

On the day of his disappearance, Rodney was scheduled to attend the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts in order to be crossexamined at the preliminary inquiry (PI) into a murder charge against Osafa Grundell and James Fraser, who are charged with the murder of Rodney’s cousin, Marlon Rodney.

Rodney Jr was last seen alive when he departed his home around 7.45 am on October 25th in his car.

Hunter had said she believed the remains were those of her son and she was concerned that the DNA testing would have taken an inordinate amount of time, thereby preventing her from proceeding with her plans for burial. “You know what it is for a mother to lose a 36-year-old child and now he dead you can’t even get he body…? All I want is me child body to bury…. all I want is the lil remains to put in a resting place but like dah and all will be a hard thing,” the grieving woman had related.

However, when contacted on Friday, Hunter told Stabroek News that she was satisfied that she has got her son’s remains.

“I feel good. I glad I get meh son body. Dah is the main thing….dah is the only closure I did waiting on… to get his remains so I

Colin Rodney

could be able to give him his resting place,” she explained.

Hunter related that from inception she knew the remains were those of her son but due to the process, she had to wait.

“I did done know was he. From the time I go and see he, I know was he…I know was he…. I keep telling them that. But still, you can’t vex with the system, them gah fah mek certain before. But I still glad because today when I go the crematorium, the people tell me they got a man in the freezer for five years and some other man fah four years so I glad me son ain’t deh deh fah all them years,” she stated.