Committee continuing investigations into Morris-Julian death

FIRE service former head Roosevelt Bruce, leader of the three-person team named to investigate the tragic death of Minister in the Ministry of Education Lisa Morris-Julian and her two children said work is continuing on the probe.

The D'Abadie/O'Meara MP and former Arima mayor died in a blaze at her family home on Farfan Street, Arima, with her daughter Xianne, 25, and son Jesiah, six, on December 16.

Reports are Morris-Julian had rushed back into the house to try to save her children, but ended up dying beside them, with subsequent autopsies citing smoke inhalation as their causes of death.

Speaking to Newsday via telephone on December 27, one week after the team was appointed, Bruce said, “We are working on it, that’s the only update I can give you right now.”

When appointing the team on December 20, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds gave the team a two-week deadline, which ends on January 3, a day after the state-assisted funeral for the MP and her children is scheduled to take place.

Asked whether the team would meet the deadline, Bruce said,

“I’m not sure. We’re working on it, we’re trying to make the two-week deadline.”

The team also includes chairman of the Occupational Safety and Health Authority Curt Cadette who is a specialist in HSSE in the energy sector and attorney Ashtie Mahabir of the Ministry of the Attorney General.