Suspected body of missing cane harvester to be exhumed for autopsy

After calls by the relatives of missing Corentyne cane harvester Reginald Ramswamey, a body suspected to be his will be exhumed and an autopsy will be conducted as part of a police investigation.

The calls for the exhumation were made after relatives of Ramswamey, 46, of Ankerville, Port Mourant, who went missing on October 6, discovered that a body suspected to be his was found next to the Port Mourant Primary School on October 8. It was later buried on October 15 after no identification was done.

Commander of ‘B’ Division Lyndon Alves yesterday told Stabroek News that the body would be exhumed on Monday, when the pathologist will be available to conduct the post-mortem examination.

Reginald Ramswamey

The Commander stressed that after the discovery of the badly decomposed body was made and no identification was done, the police were left with no choice but to bury the body. “We can’t do a post-mortem if the body was not identified,” he said.

Alves also noted that he has met with the family of Ramswamey and assured that depending on the results of the autopsy, the matter will be investigated further.

Annie Ramswamey, the sister of the missing man, had told Stabroek News that the circumstances surrounding her brother’s disappearance seemed “fishy” and as a result she wanted the authorities to exhume the body in order for a post-mortem examination to be conducted.

The woman said the day before her brother supposedly went missing, he had visited her home. However, she was rushing out and did not speak much with him. She noted that weeks went by and after not hearing back from her brother she decided to visit his home on November 9, and she reportedly found her brother’s wife along with another man.

She said she inquired where her brother was and was told by her sister-in-law that Ramswamey had been missing since October 6. “I ask if she report it and she say ‘No,’ so I say come let we go station and she refuse to go and I beg she and she still na want go and then I decide to go alone and report it,” the woman explained.

According to information gathered, the man’s wife was detained for questioning after the missing person’s report was filed but she was subsequently released.

Annie Ramswamey suspects that someone may have harmed her brother. Meanwhile, the sister also related that she along with other siblings, relatives and friends launched a search for her brother. However, she said it was after a detective showed them a picture of the decomposed body that was discovered that they believed her brother was dead and already buried.