Families call Forensic Sciences Centre a ‘national disgrace’

A National Disgrace…

This is what Stephen Broadbridge, son of Claire Broadbridge called the Forensic Science Centre in St James, while he awaited the results of his mother’s autopsy.

80-year-old Dr Claire Broadbridge was found murdered in her Fondes Amandes Road, St Ann’s home on Saturday.

Her throat was slit and her killer or killers set fire to several pieces of furniture in an apparent attempt to burn the house down.

Stephen was among 13 families waiting for hours for autopsies to be done on their loved ones yesterday. At about midday yesterday, only two of the bodies were examined. Family members were told there was a problem for funeral homes to get the required police escort for the bodies to be transported to the FSC. Added to that, there was only one attendant present.

“There is no parking, the place smells, it is overcrowded and no one knows exactly what is going on,” Stephen said.

“This is totally inadequate and it is a national disgrace. People are already traumatised and this facility should not be adding to the stress that we are already enduring. This is making an already upsetting situation even more unpleasant.”

He told reporters he and other relatives were told to arrive there for about 9 am. However when he got there, his mother’s body had not yet arrived. It was the same situation experienced by other families.

“Some of us have been waiting since 8 am, some before that, so at the end of the day, what is really going on?” said a relative of Ronald Marshall who was shot dead in Enterprise on Sunday.

“Since last year I have been seeing the same pathologist on TV. I heard him with my own ears making pleas for things to change around here and nothing has happened yet.

Everything is falling apart too fast. This country is on its way for an uprising; it is just a matter of time before it explodes.” Stephen told Newsday yesterday the autopsy was finally done at about 2 pm.

He said if the government was really serious, it would have removed all stops to dealing with the matter of crime. This includes the proper management of the FSC.

“We are a culture of tolerant people and I think we need to be less tolerant, more demanding, and less fearful.

It seems that everyone is always afraid of repercussions when giving evidence. We are afraid of saying the wrong things and not having the parties in power give them aid or jobs.”

Newsday was unable to reach Alexandrov for comment.

The murder toll for the year so far is 321 with 40 of the victims being women.