Latest update February 10th, 2025 2:25 PM
Cops exhume skeletal remains of missing female mining camp cook
– daughter IDs clothing, victim’s boss in custody
Police may be a step closer to solving the mystery surrounding the suspected murder of mining camp cook Petol Hafez who vanished earlier this month.
A senior official confirmed that investigators on Saturday exhumed skeletal remains, suspected to be Hafez’s that were found on July 8 at an abandoned mining camp at Thomas Island at Puruni, Mazaruni.
Police had ordered the remains buried pending an exhumation. The exhumation, which was conducted Saturday, showed a ‘crack’ in the skull, but Government Pathologist De. Nehaul Singh was unable to determine the cause of death.
Vanished, believed murdered: Petol Hafez
A daughter of Hafez had told police that a “flowered top”, pants and brassiere, which were found near the remains, as clothing that belonged to her mother.
But police will have to await on DNA results from samples taken from the remains to confirm the victim’s identity.
Meanwhile, a mining camp operator with whom Hafez was employed remains in custody. Police are to seek legal advice soon to ascertain if charges can be laid.
The skeletal remains were found on July 8 after persons passing near an abandoned mining camp at Thomas Island, Puruni, became aware of a stench in the area.
Police also recovered female attire from the camp.
Petol Hafez, 31, of Lot 21 Side Line Dam, Vergenorgen, East Bank Demerara, had traveled to Puruni around June 28 to work as a cook at a mining camp.
Her daughter said that Hafez had promised to return “before school opened.”
“She used to call everyday and when the calls stopped we knew that something was wrong,” the daughter said.
She said relatives sent phone messages to the employer to enquire about her mother’s whereabouts. According to the daughter, the employer alleged that he had left his camp and when he returned, his workers said that Hafez had left to go “further up the backdam.”
The daughter said she learned two Sundays ago that a skeleton of a woman had been found in the Purui area. She subsequently contacted police and identified “a
flowered top, short pants, bra and underwear” that investigators retrieved from the camp where her mother had worked.
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