AS the investigation into the murder of East Canje Secondary School student, Tiana Raghbeer continues, an autopsy report revealed that death was due to strangulation. 

Performing the post-mortem on the 14 year old on New Year’s Day at the New Amsterdam Hospital mortuary was Government Pathologist, Dr. Vivikenand Brijmohan, who added that the teenager was alive when she was thrown into the trench .
Dr. Brijmohan based his findings on the presence of mud and water in the respiratory tract and stomach of the teenager, who was found submerged in a muddy trench at Reliance Village, East Canje on Saturday, December 27.
Meanwhile, the teen’s father and her stepmother remain in police custody, as sleuths attempts to crack the case.
Information revealed that the Canje Secondary student had been exposed to narcotics and alcohol, amongst other social ills.
Investigation has revealed that the statements of the father, Jaiprakash Raghbeer, with respect to the events leading up to the discovery of Tiana in the trench, is filled with inconsistencies and contradicts that which was given by his common-law wife of two months.
Consequently, a 10- year- old sibling of the deceased has revealed that the teenager and her father had a heated argument, resulting in her leaving the home and their father pursuing her in their grandfather’s car.
In his statement to the media, Jaiprakash Raghbeer alias “Jaio,” had stated that the family had spent Boxing Day at a gymkhana held in East Canje.
After returning home, the family became aware of the fact that Tiana had left the house when she failed to return to the living room with drinks for her father and stepmother.
According to Raghbeer, “It was minutes to 11 that she brought food for me and she stepmother and she said she going downstairs for the drinks. After I finished eating, I called out to her and got no response, so I sent her 10-year-old brother to call her. He then say she gone.
“Me and my wife jump on the motorbike and start looking for she in all the places we think she could be. We went as far as Edinburgh, East Bank Berbice, but we did not find her…. On my way back I hear they find a body in the backdam trench. When we reach they didn’t take her out yet. When they take her out I recognise her clothes and I tell the police that look like me daughter.”
Meanwhile, even as the body of Tiana Raghbeer remains to be buried, there is some confusion as to what form the burial should take. The teen’s mother wants her to be buried, but her father has made preparations for her to be cremated.

(By Jeune Bailey Van Keric)