THE body of New Amsterdam municipal Constable Dovan Sheppard was fished out of the Republic Park Canal on Sunday afternoon, hours after she had left her place of employment to attend a wake house.The divorced mother of two, who lived at Lot 23 Alexander Street, was found partially clad in her work attire. She also had a ring on her finger, a hand bag strung around her neck, and a black plastic bag containing peanuts and tortillas.

The snack may have been bought to be utilised at the wake house. The black plastic bag was on the handle of her red bicycle, which was retrieved from the canal.

Sheppard’s son, Akeem Shepperd, told the Guyana Chronicle that he was not at home when his mother left for work on Saturday, but he was told that she had gone to a wake house of a colleague’s relative. After his mom did not return home, he said, a search was carried out, and her body was found floating in the Republic Park Canal, in the vicinity of the Savannah Park Housing Scheme in Stanleytown.

Investigators took about two hours to arrive at the scene, much to the frustration of the crowd which gathered there. Friends and colleagues of the woman wept upon recognising the body pulled from the trench. The body was transported to the New Amsterdam Hospital, and a post-mortem is expected to be conducted shortly.

Sheppard was described as an easygoing person. Her workmates are of the opinion that she may have met her demise after experiencing a seizure while cycling home on the unlit road. This, they say, probably may have caused her to lose control of her cycle and end up in the trench.

Police are investigating the woman’s death.