Pathologist in Tobago working on autopsy backlog

The usual hustle and bustle was absent at the Forensic Science Centre, St James on Monday as the pathologist travelled to Tobago to conduct the backlog of autopsies.

Tobago has seen a record-high 24 murders, thus far and with no pathologist on the island, autopsies have been backed-up.

Newsday visited the Forensic Science Centre on September 30 and saw no cars parked in the car park.

Two men who worked for funeral homes, told Newsday of the closure and postponement of autopsies to October 1.

On September 11, a mother and her two children, were found dead in a green metal WASA water tank in Parrot Hall, Parlatuvier, Tobago.

Senior police sources confirmed the decomposing bodies of Sarah Smith, 33, Genuine Smith, three, and 18-month-old Phoenix Smith were found in the water tank around 5.30 pm on September 11. Smith's mother Jacqueline Wayne had reported her daughter and grandchildren missing to police on September 2.

On September 25, two weeks after the trio were found Wayne said she was still waiting on word from the authorities on when their autopsies will be done.

“It is too nerve-racking. I need some kind of closure,” she told Newsday on September 25.

“We could get all of the information (for the investigation) afterwards but let us just put them down and deal with that. How do you deal with just waiting? I don’t know how? I am confused.”

Nicholas "Daddy T" Mitchell, 32, was shot at his home in Argyle on September 22.

His mother, who was nearby and heard the gunshots, later found her son's body.

On September 20 another man was shot and killed near his home in Argyle.

The victim was identified as Brandon Edwards, 27, of Lammy Road.

Smith, her two children, Mitchell and Edwards were the latest fatalities in Tobago and the results of their autopsies should be available by October 1.