(Updated) Autopsy shows Ashanti Riley was stabbed, beaten

JENSEN LA VENDE and RHIANNA MC KENZIE

AN AUTOPSY done on Wednesday has revealed that 18-year-old schoolgirl Ashanti Riley was stabbed multiple times and beaten by her attackers. The teen’s naked, decomposing body was found in a shallow stream five days after she went missing on November 29.

The autopsy, which was done at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, said she died from sharp force injuries to the right of her chest and lower abdomen and blunt force trauma to the back of the left chest.

The autopsy report did not say if she was sexually assaulted. Two men remain in police custody in relation to her murder, but up to press time, no charges had been laid.

In a brief interview with Newsday on Wednesday, Candice Riley, Ashanti’s mother, commented on Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith’s proposal that women should be allowed to carry pepper spray to ward off unwanted attackers.

“Yes, I do agree (with him),” she said, “because it gives the victim some time to escape…time to run away and try to get some help.”

Griffith also said more women should apply for firearm licences and exercise their right to bear a firearm to protect themselves and their families. Candice said funeral arrangements for her daughter are under way.