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Girl found in Hope Canal was murdered – PM reveals
What had first seemed like a tragic case of drowning, has now turned into a murder investigation, with
Murdered: Malika Hamilton
police revealing yesterday that Malika Hamilton, the 14-year-old whose body was found in the Hope Canal, appeared to have been strangled.
A police official said that a post mortem examination performed by Government Pathologist, Dr. Nehaul Singh showed that death was from asphyxiation due to drowning.
But the post mortem also revealed injuries to the throat, which indicated that someone had choked the teen.
“As a result of that, our investigation is now moving in an area of murder,” the official said.
“So far we have no name (of a suspect); all we are getting is a description.”
But relatives who spoke with Kaieteur News yesterday said that Hamilton was last seen with a male villager known as ‘Satan’, who has reportedly since disappeared. They alleged that the man has had numerous brushes with the law.
Hamilton left her Two Friends Village, East Coast Demerara home on Monday and her body was found the following day in the Hope Canal. Her body bore no visible marks of violence and it was assumed at the time that she had drowned, since there were reports that she had gone swimming.
Atisha Cambridge, the slain teen’s mother, said that she was at work on Monday when Hamilton contacted her by phone and said she was going to a cousin’s home to do her hair. It appears that instead, the teen ended up near the “big bridge,” with a boy, and the man known as ‘Satan’.
The teen’s grandmother, Dorrel Cambridge, alleged yesterday that the man had claimed that he was teaching Hamilton to swim.
A police source said that the boy who had accompanied Hamilton and ‘Satan’ said that the trio crossed a bridge at “Star-apple tree” area, where men go to catch birds. They then went to the backdam.
On arriving there, ‘Satan’ allegedly told the boy to stay there since he was taking Hamilton to pick mangoes. He said Hamilton and ‘Satan’ never returned.
The child claimed that when it became dark, he asked someone to take him over the bridge and he went home.
Kaieteur News was told that ‘Satan’ went to the family’s home the next day after learning that Hamilton’s family was searching for her. He reportedly said: “Wait, that girl ain’t come home?”
According to Atisha Cambridge, the slain girl’s mother, ‘Satan’ claimed that after taking Hamilton by the ‘big bridge’ to swim, the teen had told him that she was going to her grandmother’s home. He also reportedly said that he had lent the girl his slippers.
Kaieteur News was told that police also have a statement from a villager, who said he took Hamilton, ‘Satan’ and the boy by boat to an area where villagers hunt for birds.
It was this same villager who spotted Hamilton’s body in the canal on Tuesday and alerted the police.
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