Family demands autopsy report nearly a year after death in police custody

A family is appealing to the authorities to share the findings of an autopsy performed on the body of their loved one, which has been lying in the morgue for almost a year.

At a press conference held on Thursday at the White Park Road offices of Pilgrim and Associates, the family’s legal team said they had exhausted every legal avenue to obtain the cause of Kemo Grant’s death on June 9, which they hope will guide whether a second opinion is needed, and bring closure to a painful chapter.

Attorney Martie Garnes, accompanied by Grant’s father, Jeffrey Odle, and sisters, Kim and Tricia Grant, said their repeated efforts to have forensic pathologist Dr Shubhakar Karra Paul perform the autopsy had been unsuccessful. He expressed frustration that the same State-paid specialist the family had been trying to engage was recently seconded to Guyana to conduct a high-profile autopsy there.

Garnes explained that the family specifically wanted a forensic pathologist and not a consultant pathologist because the former is qualified not only to determine the cause of death but also the manner in which it occurred.

The attorney also expressed concern that the matter was taken to court for judicial review, and the family was still waiting on a decision.

“Since it is that we had filed the accompanying documents on June 26, 2024, the matter would have been deemed urgent…. We are now in May 8. We would have filed two applications—an injunction and a substantive application to have a judicial review for the coroner’s decision to not allow the forensic pathologist to conduct the autopsy. Since then, we have had one judgment for the injunction; and in respect of the substantive application itself, we have received no ruling on that whatsoever,” Garnes explained.

“The autopsy would have been done on August 28, 2024. Nine months after the fact, we do not have an autopsy report.”

Garnes pointed to the contrast in how authorities in Guyana responded to the suspicious death of a girl, with the country’s president assuring the family that no effort would be spared to get to the truth.
He also cited recent remarks from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) urging judges in Barbados to deliver rulings within six months, and to report to the Chief Justice if more time is required.

Garnes said the family had been repeatedly asked to collect the body, but they have declined to do so in order to protect the chain of custody in the event that something goes wrong during the transfer.

The family, visibly emotional, said Grant’s death had taken a tremendous emotional toll on them. They are demanding transparency and accountability after nearly a year of silence.