(Trinidad Express) The final moments of 19-year-old Shabana Mohammed were spent gasping for air, face down on the ground, after she had been violently strangled.
This was revealed yesterday, following an autopsy by forensic pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov atthe Forensic Science Centre in Federation Park. Speaking to reports shortly after making his findings, Alexandrov explained the teenager had died as a result of asphyxiation due to strangulation.
“However, what is of note is that she was placed face down in the ground after she had been strangled. We know this because dirt was found in her air passages. Therefore, she was violently strangled, and then when she lapsed into unconsciousness, she fell face forward and remained on the ground for a few moments, still alive. She made a couple of terminal inhalations before she died,” Dr Alexandrov explained.
He also noted Mohammed’s body was badly decomposed, leading him to believe she was killed most likely on the same day she disappeared.
“Her body was in a bad state of decomposition, which means that she died most likely on the day she was reported missing. I say this because the body was completely beyond visual recognition. “However, she had unique features that the family was able to identify, such as waist-long hair, which was dual coloured. It was partially black and partially blonde in points. So I was able to wash it thoroughly and showed it to the respective relatives, and they were able to identify it from there,” Alexandrov said.
The forensic pathologist also noted he had taken samples from her nail clippings to determine whether there was the presence of foreign DNA.
“We did utilise the rape kit and take swabs and such to determine if she had been assaulted. But we will have to wait for those results,” Alexandrov said.
On Thursday, the nude body of the 19-year-old was found in a drain behind her home in Akal Trace, Santa Cruz. She had been reported missing since January 3. It was reported that on Saturday last (January 3), at about 7.30 a.m., Mohammed was home alone and sometime later, a loud scream was heard. Relatives who returned to the house a short while later, and realising she was missing, dialled her cell number but got no answer. Searches were conducted and a report made to the Santa Cruz Police Station.
The funeral service for the 19-year-old is expected to take place at 2 p.m. today at the family’s home. Speaking to the media yesterday, a male relative described Mohammed as a helpful and respectable young woman who would do anything for her family. He added she was a pleasant girl, who was always smiling. She was also a well-kept girl, according to the grieving brother. “Anything any one of us needed, she would go out of her way to get it for us. If she saw me come home and I hadn’t eaten, she would make sure and get something for me to eat. She would do the same thing for our father. She would make sure he had tea, that he had been fed and that he took his tablets,” he recalled.
Relative of policeman to be questioned again
Police sources told the Express that on Monday, the male relative of a police officer was questioned in relation to the missing teen and was subsequently allowed to leave. Police sources last night revealed the relative is to be reinterviewed by investigators in the coming days as it is believed he could assist in the investigation. Up to late yesterday, the suspect, police said, had yet to be questioned.
