CRIME Chief Leslie James yesterday confirmed that the samples from the decomposed remains which are suspected to be that of missing St Stanislaus teacher Nyozi Goodman left these shores yesterday for a Caribbean destination.

The samples will undergo tests to determine if the remains are indeed that of the missing teacher although the belt which was discovered close to the body was identified by her mother as belonging to her daughter.
However, the Crime Chief declined to disclose where exactly the samples would be tested, only stating that the samples left very early yesterday for the destination accompanied by one police rank. He also would not say in which department the rank is stationed.
In the past the Guyana Police Force came in for harsh criticism by both Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee and Head of State President Donald Ramotar in the highly publicised case of Demerara Bank employee Sheema Mangar who was killed in September 2010 and samples were sent to a Caribbean country for DNA testing and the matter is still unresolved.
The police have tried to clear itself by stating that the county the samples have been sent to have not been giving them any favourable responses.
In the meantime, the main suspect in the matter of the robbery of the young bank employee for her mobile phone remains out of police custody. The police have no substantial evidence to pin him to the crime although a strand of hair suspected to be that of the bank employee was found on the bumper of the car he reportedly had access to on the night of the crime.
Meanwhile, the relatives of the teacher are still hoping for closure in the matter even as the remains of the decomposed body lay in cold storage at Lyken Funeral Parlour.
After the remains were discovered last month at Turkeyen the post-mortem had to be conducted there because of the advanced state of decomposition.
A city school teacher was reported missing after she accompanied her students to a game of basketball at the National Gymnasium in Georgetown. She sent her students ahead while informing them that she would be picked up by a friend. It would turn out that the friend did arrive but persons were not able to ascertain who the individual was.
However others who saw the woman in the company of the man on the night shared the intelligence with the police and the man was arrested for questioning but had alibis which caused him to be released. After the remains were discovered he was re-arrested and again released.

(By Leroy Smith)