Guyana now benefits from free DNA

May 15, 2017 News

Babita Sarjou

Every time the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is required to do a DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) test, the Government has to fork out more than US$3000 for the test, plus accommodation and travel expenses for the rank that will be carrying it to either Barbados, Brazil or Trinidad and Tobago.
But now, after 24 years, the Force will access it free of cost, according to Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan.
The Minister said that the Brazilian government, through a request he made for mutual legal assistance, has agreed to help in conducting free testing.
Initially, samples were taken to Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados but the cost was astronomical.
“We had huge problems with Trinidad. We sent (samples) twice but couldn’t get it done,” Ramjattan said while adding that he subsequently approached the Brazilian Government for assistance.
He said that the neighbouring country understood Guyana’s difficulties and offered to do the tests free.
Babita Sarjou’s samples were the first to be done in Brazil for free.
However, having free DNA testing does not mean that the government will not continue to ensure the multi-million dollar forensic lab at Turkeyen, which was constructed under the previous administration, is fully operational.
The Minister said that training is required for staffers to ensure that these specimens are kept in a sanitized condition.
The lab is expected to be functional by 2018.
In a previous interview, the Minister noted that, “DNA is the highest grade of investigation at the forensic level and the chemicals, the procedures in a DNA lab are of a very high quality; you do not want interfaces with the samples and the integrity of the items.”

Dominic Bernard

He said that for DNA testing to be done, there must be strong structures and appropriate equipment but none of this is available now.
He pointed out that the sponsors of that equipment want to be assured that the lab’s personnel are properly trained, and all other systems are in place before the equipment could be made available.
Presently, training of forensic lab technicians is ongoing.
“That is very important, because you can have all of that coming in and it takes one good lawyer to demolish a case presented in court and then no juror ever believes that that DNA sample testing is proper…so I want to go cautiously to ensure everything is in place, the air conditioning unit, the refrigeration units and all of that before we proceed,” Minister Ramjattan said.
The forensic laboratory is currently equipped to conduct testing on currencies, forged documents, and ballistics, Minister Ramjattan said.
The Force first used DNA testing in the still-unsolved 1993 murder of security guard Monica Reece.
DNA testing was also used to identify the remains of the Lindo Creek massacre victims and in the murder of bank clerk, Sheema Mangar.
They were also used to identify the remains of Babita Sarjou, school teacher Nyozi Goodman and British teen Dominic Bernard.
The fact that these tests had to be done overseas has often raised the question of timeliness.
On some occasions, samples that were reportedly sent overseas yielded no results; in other cases, the samples never left Guyana.

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