…Lyken owner tells CoI

CO-OWNER of the Lyken Funeral Home, Dr. Dawn Stewart, a mortician by profession, said the country’s then Crime Chief, Seelall Persaud had ordered back in 2012 that the charred remains of the Lindo Creek victims be lumped into a single coffin and buried, but she objected.

The decision was reportedly handed down some four years after the charred remains of the eight gold miners were discovered at Lindo Creek in the Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice District in June, 2008. Dr. Stewart, who is a U.S trained retired Registered Nurse with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Clinical Psychology, and a PhD in Environmental Science, was among four persons who took to the stand on Thursday as the Lindo Creek Commission of Inquiry (CoI) public hearings commenced. She has been a mortician since 2007.

Jogging her memory based on a statement she submitted to the Commission, Legal Counsel Patrice Henry took Dr. Stewart back to June 21, 2008 when the Lyken Funeral Home was contacted by the Guyana Police Force. As Chairman of the Commission, Justice (Ret’d) Donald Trotman, and family and friends of the deceased listened attentively in the chamber of the COI Secretariat at the Department of Public Service, Dr. Stewart said the parlour was contacted to pick up some burnt and decomposed human remains from an interior location. Upon request, a porter was sent by air to a “designated area” to assist in moving the remains from the interior location to the city.

That person, who was identified as “Mavis”, had flown into the interior on the morning of June 21, 2008 from the Ogle Airport, and had returned the afternoon with ranks of the Guyana Police Force, and the charred remains. A hearse was then dispatched to the airport to uplift the remains along with Ms. Mavis, who is now deceased.
The remains were those of Cecil Arokium, Dax Arokium, Horace Drakes, Bonny Harry, Lancelot Lee, Compton Speirs, Nigel Torres and Clifton Berry Wong. Questioned whether ranks of the Police Force had accompanied the mortician from the airport to the funeral parlour, Dr. Stewart responded in the affirmative, and even positively identified Detective Sergeant Clemsford Burnette as one of the police investigators who had accompanied the mortician to the Lyken Funeral Home.

BUNDLED TOGETHER
Dr. Stewart said when the hearse arrived at the Lyken Funeral Home, she noticed that the remains had been wrapped together in a large tarpaulin. “It was a large bundle of human remains, approximately 6 foot long and 4feet wide…It was maintained in that condition as we picked it up from the airport until it was required from the Police Force for the next step,” she recalled.

However, Dr. Stewart said she did not see the contents of the tarpaulin at the time. “We didn’t open the tarpaulin at that time, because we were not allowed to tamper with the evidence. We were allowed to save it in the position that we received it, and we now refrigerate it in a secured area until further direction from the Guyana Police Force,” she explained.

According to her, the remains remained in that condition for a number of days, while the Police Force put systems in place for post mortems to be conducted. However, a decision was made for Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) testing to be done on the remains, because they were unidentifiable.

“Once the inspectors were there to look at and to take pictures, and to take DNA studies, we were able to see the remains which included charred parts of bodies, skulls, hands and torsos, and various different parts of human (body),” Stewart explained to Counsel Henry before the Commission.

According to her, the remains continuously remained in the custody of the Lyken Funeral Parlour for approximately four years. During that period, Dr. Stewart said, there were visits by local and foreign investigators approximately four times in the first two years of the investigation for the purpose of removing samples from the burnt remains.

PREPARED FOR BURIAL
After approximately four years, the remains, on September 11, 2012, were prepared for burial, but only after consistent queries by the Lyken Funeral Home. It was the longest period the Lyken Funeral Home, in its 95 years of existence, had ever kept human remains for, Dr. Stewart noted. “Before the point of burial, I often visited the CID Division to determine when we were going to bury these bodies, and what we were going to do with these bodies because they were there for a long period of time. And I would speak to Detective Cosbert and Detective Seelall Persaud, who were in the CID Division, in reference to early burial of the human remains,” the mortician told the Commission in response to a question posed by Attorney Henry.

‘BURY THEM IN ONE COFFIN’
According to Dr. Stewart, it was after she had constantly visited the CID Headquarters at Eve Leary that she was told that the investigation was completed, and the remains could be turned over to the families for burial. It was at that point she reportedly told the CID that eight coffins were required, but the then Crime Chief objected. “I was instructed by the then Crime Chief that there was only one coffin needed for the burial. However, through my negotiation, we were able to attain three coffins for them to be buried in three different tombs at that time, on that said 11th day of September,” she explained.

Dr. Stewart said it was the decision of the funeral home to hold a small home-going service for the miners before interment at the Le Repentir Cemetery. One relative had attended that service, but the mortician noted that during the first two years, family members of the deceased had repeatedly called the parlour to ascertain when the remains would be released for burial, and were always directed to the police, because the remains were still in their custody.

“My understanding from that particular family,” Dr Stewart said, “was that they were just notified on the morning of the burial, that the burial would be taking place, and they were under the impression that the other families didn’t know. The following day we got calls from other family members, asking and querying about the human remains, and we ended up with three coffins, and we buried them. And we did not know exactly who was in which coffin.”

Dr. Stewart assured the commission that the area in which the miners were buried could be located through the Cemetery Office. The COI is investigating the circumstances surrounding the murder of miners on or about June 21, 2008 at Lindo Creek. Upon the completion of its work, the Commission will submit a report of its findings and recommendations to President David Granger.