Autopsy delayed as Ford blocked as observer

THE AUTOPSY for 23-year-old Javane Duhaney, who was allegedly shot and killed by a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldier on Bray Street in Kingston on May 9, has been delayed as forensic pathologist Dr Althea Neblett reportedly objected to independent observer retained by the family, Dr Jephthah Ford.

As the family gathered at the Tranquility Funeral Home in Kingston yesterday, eagerly anticipating that the procedure would be conducted so that they could move forward with funeral plans, Neblett reportedly declined to work with Ford.

“Government doctors don’t want to work with me because I talk the truth at post-mortems. I will not join the conspiracy. I will write exactly what I see,” Ford said yesterday.

“I have four policemen now on murder charges in the Home Circuit Court based on my observations at post-mortems, and the police and the army is well aware of that. I don’t take sides, and nobody can bribe me, and I say exactly what I see,” he added, also revealing that he had been contacted by East Kingston and Port Royal Member of Parliament Phillip Paulwell, who asked if he could assist the family.

Yanike Crosdale, Duhaney’s mother, was overcome by tears at the further delay in completing the procedure.

“Why can’t Dr Ford be there?” she questioned. “I need justice for my son, and that soldier who shot him supposed to bear the consequence.”

Another relative, Sherene Beckford, said that the family has been “punished” for too long.

She questioned why the autopsy for Susan Bogle, who was shot during a police-military operation in August Town, St Andrew, recently was conducted just over two weeks after her death while Duhaney’s is yet to be done.

“What’s the difference?” she asked. “We need it to be done, and if it can’t be done today, we need it soon, and we need Mr Ford in there. The children dem, di immediate family, we have suffered long enough, long enough,” she lamented.

Ford said that a new date for the post-mortem had not been scheduled.

A 28-year-old friend and neighbour of Duhaney’s, who was standing beside him, had also been shot in the arm.

GLADSTONE TAYLOR/MULTIMEDIA PHOTO EDITOR Yanike Crosdale, mother of the late Javane Duhaney, is consoled by Leon Duncan as she is overcome with grief while waiting with family members in vain at the Tranquility Funeral Home in Kingston yesterday. The family’s hope for a post-mortem examination with Dr Jephthah Ford present as a witness was allegedly dismissed by pathologist Althea Neblett.