The Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory (GFSL) is currently experiencing a backlog in toxicology screening, so says its Director, Delon France.
This issue was raised with France after the forensic lab was criticised over the delayed toxicology testing for city businessman, Nakema Demindraj Deonauth, who was murdered in his Cummings Street apartment on June 12.
Stabroek News in an effort to obtain answers on the probe, contacted the director and the newspaper was told, “At the moment we are experiencing some slight delays with toxicology screening but we are working to resolve it.”
Deonauth was found with multiple wounds on his body, including one to his neck, that suggested he was strangled.
However, although the autopsy has been completed, the toxicology test remains outstanding and in the hands of the lab and according to the Director, the issues at the moment are based on several factors.
“While we are outsourcing these tests, we are currently working on factors that are causing our delays. Those factors vary from time. It could be equipment downtime, it could be depending on a specific test that comes in, or we may not have had a method in place. It’s a vast array of things. For example, the toxicology test can’t have the result of someone being poisoned, you can simply overdose on aspirin or you get poison. So, we from time to time will have to develop methods for each individual test. For example, if they just submit a test and say they want a toxicity test; we have to go on a wild goose chase to figure out what that person could have currently used, like if they found a bottle with something that the person might use or a glass of something, they may have expected to drink, you have used an injection to inject something. That’s how wide it could be. So, a toxicology test is not just something you could screen just like that”
According to France, there is no in-house test that can be done so the overseas support is needed.
“There is no in-country support that I’m aware of so that’s why from time to time, we seek overseas support”.
The Director also remarked that as always, they are exploring the options in several countries that have the capacity and at the same time some cases are prioritized depending on the urgency.
“We were exploring like any other labs around the world, where you have relationships with other labs, where in the event that you can’t or for some reason, you have a delay in providing a service, you will seek help from labs with similar technology and equipment to assist you and yes, from time to time when there are very urgent cases that require early action, we would normally seek from other laboratories and Brazil is one of them. We have labs in the United States of America, we have labs in St Lucia and Jamaica that we normally seek support from for urgent cases, we will do that. So, we prioritized cases depending on the nature of the investigation”, he said.
This, France says, will be a thing of the past, as the lab is currently working on developing their own methods of testing.
“In the past, we used to only resort to outside labs, however, currently we are trying to develop our own methods to (do) toxicology screening”
He added that within the next few weeks, the lab will be able to sort out the backlog. (Joseph Allen)
