(Trinidad Express) Forty-year-old Daren Mohammed was found dead at his home in Rio Claro two weeks ago.
Relatives say Mohammed had no health challenges and have called for an investigation into his sudden death.
But an autopsy has not yet been performed to determine the cause of death due to a dispute between pathologists at the San Fernando mortuary and Forensic Science Centre in St James.
According to Mohammed’s sister, Michelle Mohammed, her brother was found dead in his bedroom at around midnight on October 15.
The body was viewed by a District Medical Officer who ordered the removal to the San Fernando mortuary as there were no marks of violence.
Melissa Mohammed said, “We were told that the pathologist at San Fernando began the autopsy and when he opened my brother he observed something suspicious and ordered that the body is sent to Forensic. This, to the family, means it was not natural death. My brother was very healthy and had no problems so when we heard he would have died from natural causes we questioned that.”
The Express was told that the body was taken to the Forensic Science Centre but the pathologist on duty refused to perform the autopsy as the corpse had already been opened.
“We were there on Friday at Forensic. They told us the body had to go back to San Fernando for the autopsy. This morning (Wednesday) we went to San Fernando because we were told that the autopsy would be done. But we were informed that it would not be done today and we should go home and wait for the police to call us,” Mohammed said.
The sister said her family was traumatised by the delay as they seek closure.
“This is not our fault. And nobody seems to be able to fix it. We just want the autopsy to be done so the police can begin the investigations,” she said.
Daren Mohammed was a farmer and wholesaler. He lived at Glod Road, Poole Village, with his wife and teenage daughter.
His sister said, “The last time I saw my brother was a week before he died at our grandmother’s funeral. He was in good spirits and never complained about anything. We are very suspicious of his death and we want answers. We want this autopsy to be done immediately.”
A senior police officer told the Express that the autopsy is expected to be performed this week.
The results, he said, would determine the nature of the police investigation.
