Deal with DNA delays

DNA TESTING on behalf of the authorities is taking too long.

That much is clear from recent cases, from extremely high-profile ones like that involving the family of 18-year-old Hannah Mathura, to lesser-known ones like that of 23-year-old Alisha Phillip, whose relatives waited for answers since she vanished from Sangre Grande seven months ago until this week. Ms Phillip’s family had been unable to identify remains which police had linked to her case, necessitating testing.

DNA analysis is already a time-consuming process. This is especially so when bodies are recovered in extreme circumstances, such as when they are found in advanced states of decomposition. Increasingly gruesome and bizarre crimes also present unique forensic challenges.

But the misery of families is being prolonged far too long in some of these cases.

For instance, it took seven months for the relatives of missing mechanic Rishi Khemchan, 38, to get closure after he left home to go on a fishing expedition at the start of last year. It had already taken local authorities a whole month to bring his body here after it was found in a mangrove on the Venezuelan coast, about two dozen kilometres from Icacos.

“It is overbearing,” Mr Khemchan’s sister, Kavita, told this newspaper last year. “We are in September and are unsure what is going on. We don’t know if the DNA tests are being done locally or abroad. We are hearing the local lab is down, but that is not an excuse.”

If these kinds of tests are taking too long, the efforts on the part of the Cabinet to address the need to revamp forensic capabilities in this country are taking even longer.

Since 2022, Fitzgerald Hinds, the Minister of National Security, signed a deal with Chinese officials for the building of a brand-new forensic science centre (TTFSC).

“Minister Hinds noted that the construction of a new TTFSC continues to be a priority,” said a media release at the time.

However, a full year later, officials were still in the process of signing paperwork for the “priority” facility. Mr Hinds and Fang Qiu, Chinese Ambassador to TT, posed for yet another signing ceremony at the International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain, last December.

But the agreement for the $95 million facility, earmarked for St Joseph, sets a timeline of 18 months for completion.

This means it is possible that, despite the minister’s belief that the facility could be finished well before, a new, fully equipped and fully staffed centre may not materialise before 2026.

Why so long? Forensics are at the core of any modern justice system.

While we wait for a new building, the Cabinet must devise a temporary solution to address DNA-testing delays.