Death in paradise
But what caused my poor aunt’s horrific injuries? Marnie O’mara, 35, Portsmouth
Setting the table for dinner, I glanced over at the clock.
Aunty Jeanette will be boarding the plane now, I thought. It was September 2012, and Aunt Jeanette, 53, and her hubby Dave Amey, 43, were jetting off to the Dominican Republic to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary.
She’d been looking forward to it for weeks.
She was a nurse – so she worked long hours and overnight shifts.
‘You deserve a break,’ I’d told her.
But, several days later, Jeanette called her daughter – my cousin Claire, then 28.
‘Mum’s in hospital with a bug,’ Claire explained, phoning me afterwards.
She said her mum sounded scared and in pain.
Still, Claire had spoken to Dave and he’d reassured her.
‘He said it’s nothing to worry about,’ she said.
Poor Jeanette, though,
I thought, concerned. Instead of lounging by the pool in the sun, there she was, holed up in hospital. Hours later, Dave called Claire again. This time, he said her mum needed surgery. ‘What, why?!’ I gasped. ‘She has a ruptured spleen!’ Claire cried. She sounded worried, and no-one knew how Jeanette had got her injuries. Then the next morning, Claire turned up at my house, absolutely distraught. ‘Mum had a cardiac arrest in surgery,’ Claire sobbed. ‘She didn’t make it...’ ‘No!’ I whispered, my eyes full of tears. This didn’t make sense. How could it have happened? In shock, I helped Claire and her sister Jo, then 25, make arrangements,
calling relatives. Everyone was so upset. Dave flew back to the UK four days later.
Obviously he was also in shock, very quiet.
We felt so sorry for him, and the whole family rallied round.
Jeanette’s body was flown back separately – after about a week.
We planned the funeral, but after that, we barely saw Dave. And we still didn’t know what’d happened to Aunt Jeanette.
A year later, in October 2013, Claire got a call from police.
They revealed the extent of Jeanette’s injuries.
‘Five shattered ribs and a ruptured spleen!’ Claire gasped. I felt numb. The hospital had initially treated her for a bug – but she’d had massive internal injuries! Why? I thought, horrified. Yet we still had no clue how Jeanette had been injured in the first place.
The following two years were difficult, and our questions were still left unanswered. Then, in February 2015, Dave Amey was arrested – on suspicion of murder! Though, in the end, he was released without charge. And, after a five-year police investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service found ‘no criminal case to answer in Britain’. Distraught, the family still had no answers. So we kept pushing. Eventually, in April this year, an inquest at Portsmouth Coroner’s Court was opened into my aunt Jeanette Amey’s death. Giving evidence at the inquest, Dave said that Jeanette had begun to feel unwell by the pool and had returned to their hotel room. He said he was in the bathroom when he heard an ‘almighty thud’ and found Jeanette ‘crumpled in a heap’ near the bed. Dave said Jeanette told him she’d fainted and he’d taken her to hospital. But Dave hadn’t initially told the medics about the fall, so they’d started treating her for gastroenteritis. When they’d finally realised she had a ruptured spleen, they’d rushed her into surgery, but she’d had a cardiac arrest and died. But the inquest heard that injuries such as my aunt’s would normally be linked to a fall from a motorbike or a horse. A consultant surgeon and pathologist agreed they were ‘unlikely’ to have been caused by a simple fall to the floor, as Dave said had happened. Dave strenuously denied any suggestion that he had assaulted my aunt. He said that he was a ‘model’ husband and they’d been having the ‘best holiday’.
Coroner David Horsley recorded an open verdict.
He ruled that he couldn’t determine that either a medical delay in treatment, an assault, or a fall caused Jeanette’s death.
We were devastated.
However, the coroner did say that another inquest could be opened if ‘fresh evidence’ emerged.
So now we’re desperate for information from anyone who might’ve seen my aunt on holiday. Were you staying at the Grand Bahia Principe Hotel, Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic between 11 and 13 September 2012?
Did you cross paths with my aunt or her husband?
Any detail, however small, could be the key to finding out what happened to her.
None of the family can grieve properly, left with so many unanswered questions.
What happened to our lovely Aunt Jeanette? How did she get her injuries? We won’t rest until we know.
Any detail could be the key to what happened