Forensic Lab criticised over delayed toxicology testing in Deonauth murder
The Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory (GFSL) has come in for criticism for failing to produce the results of a toxicology test some four months after a Regent Street murder.
City businessman, Nakema Demindraj Deonauth, 36, was discovered dead on June 12 in an apartment on Regent and Cummings streets in Georgetown.
He was reportedly found with multiple wounds on his body, including one to his neck, that suggested he was strangled.
Reports are that Deonauth lived on the top floor of the three-story building, which housed an electronics store and a storage facility.
The grisly discovery took place at approximately 13.00 hours and the victim’s father was later arrested after he had been observed going in and out of the building. However, he was later released.
Since then, questions to Guyana Police Force about the status of the investigation have been met with the bare response, that it is “still ongoing.”
Some four months on, Deonauth’s girlfriend, Narissa Deokarran, has decided to speak out against the handling of the matter by the Force and GFSL.
She told Stabroek News that for months she has been seeking answers from the force on the matter and stumbled on the fact the toxicology test is still to be done and that is the reason the investigation has stalled.
“The toxicology result is part of the autopsy report actually. The autopsy is really not complete without that part of it. Some of it relates to testing his organs and sending them to a lab for testing. So, I don’t believe the pathologist would have signed the report because that part is missing”, she said.
Deokarran related that she was told that the investigation had stalled because the test was not being done. She noted that while there is a report stating that
Deonauth died from blunt trauma to the head there could be more to the probe.
“The pathologist did say blunt trauma to the head and that could be caused by somebody hitting another person, it could be caused by a fall. So, it doesn’t mean that he died from that, but I don’t want to make an assumption about the investigation… They are waiting really on the complete autopsy and maybe they are going to learn more”, she said.
Understanding that the test plays a critical part in the investigation, she said that it had to be done.
However, Deokarran said that she was told that other samples in the lab had been tested by others and as such there is a wait for her boyfriend’s testing to be done since the test is not done here.
With four months already gone by, Deokarran noted “this is crazy,” opining that the lab would have logically been prepared if they knew they couldn’t do the test in Guyana.
“I really think all the time and the test being done at the local lab, you know they say 4-6 weeks they normally take. So, after a while, I wondered what was going on and after I reached and I later learnt that the lab could not do the test, but I thought if these labs couldn’t do these tests then they should have already had measures in place. You know to have a liaison overseas to send samples to. So, they know when the same goes to them and they know they can’t do it and only they looking at where could we send this. It’s crazy when you think about it because the police are sending a lot of samples to that lab and who knows what they are doing with those pieces of evidence”, she lamented.
She feels that by bringing up the matter, the authorities will work on speeding up the process and further work on this deficiency.
“It’s really hard and there is nothing I can do and I can’t do anything to speed it up and it’s frustrating, but at the end of the day I can’t do anything but I think by exposing this action maybe someone with authority, like the Minister of Home Affairs will address the deficiency at that lab and the problems they have there”, she said.