Almost one month after his demise, the body of former valedictorian of the University of Guyana, Michael George has not yet been returned to family members as police have seemingly paused the investigation into his death.
Speaking with family members on Tuesday, INews was informed that the Guyana Police Force is keeping the man’s body as the investigations into his death continues.
According to family members, they were told that investigators have prioritized the investigations into the murders which occurred in West Coast Berbice (WCB).
On August 23, George, a father of two, who hails from La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara (WCD), died just two days before his 32nd birthday.
He reportedly drowned during an outing with some friends at the Parika waterside.
An initial inspection of his body by detectives showed no marks of violence.
However, a postmortem examination performed government pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh, gave his cause of death as “drowning compounded by blunt trauma to head”.
Investigators have not yet determined what caused the blunt trauma to the head.
While family members want a thorough investigation and if foul play was involved, for the perpetrators to be held accountable, they also want the man’s body to be returned for burial.
“Since August 23 we have been put off, put on back the burner because they have other cases to look after. His funeral hasn’t been performed, and his family is grieving. They put us off to look after Berbice cases, I guess if you want justice in this country you got to protest and act violent like people in Berbice…”, a close relative, who wished to remain anonymous, expressed.
George’s family members added that since his death, “investigation started with just receiving statements and everyone was released, and they said we have to wait”.
They are pleading with higher authorities to be given the opportunity to lay their loved one to rest since it will help with their grieving process.
INews had reached out to police sources who indicated that they are awaiting word from the government pathologist regarding what might have caused the blunt trauma to dead man’s head.
The source indicated that this bit of information would be crucial in determining whether the case should turn into a murder investigation.
