“I never saw Lindo Creek remains or did post mortems” – Pathologist Nehaul Singh tells COI

Mar 23, 2018 News

---

Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh testified yesterday that aside from being shown some photographs, he never saw the remains of the Lindo Creek miners, nor did he conduct any post mortems on the victims.
Dr. Singh told the Lindo Creek Commission of Inquiry (COI) that he accompanied a team to Lindo Creek, with the view of conducting post mortems at the site and possibly having the victims buried there. However, due to the rough terrain they would have to cover, he opted out of going to the camp.
He was later told that a team from Jamaica would examine the remains.
Dr. Singh, who has a Special degree in Pathology and has conducted some 25,000 post mortems, was also critical of the manner in which the remains were heaped together during their removal from the site.
The pathologist recounted that on Saturday, June 21, 2008, a police officer, indentified as Edgar Thomas, informed him about the murder of the Lindo Creek miners. He was also told of the likelihood of the post mortems and burials being done at Lindo Creek.
Dr. Singh said he contacted two mortuary attendants, and, along with police and army ranks, headed to the location. He recalled that the team travelled from UNAMCO to Lindo Creek. He estimated that the journey took about an hour and 15 minutes and that it was raining and the terrain was rough.
Mr. Courtney Wong, the elder brother of slain miner Clifton Wong, led them to a camp that the miners had abandoned. Wong then informed them that the crew had moved to a camp on a hill. Dr. Singh said that he told Wong that he would be unable to make the journey, and Wong and one of Dr. Singh’s staff and others headed to the area.
He said the team returned about an hour and a half later.
“They showed me pictures (in a camera) of bones. The pictures were bad since it was raining.” He said that the team then headed back to Kwakwani.
Dr. Singh said that at Kwakwani, he spoke to a Guyana Defence Force officer. They then made arrangements for the clearing of an area at Lindo Creek for an aircraft to land near the site the following day.
The pathologist said that during a meeting that Sunday at State House, he informed Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Commissioner of Police Henry Greene and others that he was unable to reach the site. He also told them of the plan to clear an area at the site for an aircraft to land.
But the next day, Monday, Dr. Singh said that he “heard on the news that they had brought out the bones.” During the same week, Police Commissioner Greene informed him that government was bringing in a team from Jamaica to examine the remains.
“I said to him: ‘I am not going to observe anybody. I have work to do, let them do their job.’” He said that the following Tuesday (of the next week), members of the Jamaican team visited him. “We had a discussion and went downstairs to the mortuary. “I said: ‘I have the staff, you will get the work done.”
Asked for his opinion on the manner in which the remains were removed from Lindo Creek, Dr. Singh said: “This is called disaster management, and you need to know what you are doing. There are eight people there…you need to get them separated as much as possible, you just can’t scoop them up and put them in a bag and bring them; you are not selling mangoes.”
“I don’t know if they (the remains) were on each other, but you must see an outline, so you put them separately; it is easier to examine, and that would have been the best way.”
Dr. Singh said that the expertise of a forensic anthropologist would have been of great assistance to the team examining the remains.
“I told Mr. (Henry) Greene that I have a friend who is a forensic anthropologist in the States, and he is willing to come. I never heard back anything,” he told the Commission.
COI Attorney Patrice Henry: “The remains would have remained in storage for at least four years. During that four-year period, can you say whether you had any first hand opportunity of examining or looking at them?”
Dr. Singh: “Never.”
COI Attorney Patrice Henry: “As we speak, even at this late stage, if they were to exhume those remains, can you say if there is a possibility of you making any findings?”
Dr. Singh: No, after ten years those bones have possibly disintegrated. You wouldn’t find anything.”
Attorney Patrice Henry: “Would you agree that you were never able to perform an autopsy on the remains?
Dr. Singh: “No, I never (was able to).”
The Government pathologist said he had suggested that the remains be placed in a mausoleum, which families can visit.
Dr. Singh also told the Commission that he did not cross out his name from documents relating to the examination of the remains. His name was replaced by that of a member of the Jamaican team.
The COI resumes next Tuesday.

---

---