It is about time Shemar’s body is laid to rest!
This is the cry of 12-year-old Shemar Weekes’ family members who are calling on the authorities, four weeks after teenager allegedly hanged himself, to hand over his body.
The late Shemar Weekes.
An upset family member told Barbados TODAY this evening that Weekes’ loved ones had not yet received word from the authorities when the body, on which an autopsy was conducted last week by Jamaica-based forensic pathologist Dr Sainagendra Prasad Kadiyala, would be handed over to them.
“We are very frustrated because we are not hearing anything, the body has not been released and we want to lay him to rest. It is bad enough that we are grieving and after four weeks we are frustrated. It is about time we lay him to rest,” said the relative, who requested anonymity.
The autopsy, which was witnessed by detectives and relatives at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, showed that no one was criminally liable for the death of the former Coleridge & Parry student, who was found by mother Julianne Weekes hanging in the yard of their Fryers Well, Checker Hall, St Lucy home on May 4.
Following the autopsy, Assistant Commissioner of Police responsible for Crime Management Investigations Mark Thompson revealed that Shamar’s file would not be handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions Charles Leacock, which would have suggested the need for a criminal probe.
Thompson who did not provide any details on the cause of the death indicated that the 12-year-old’s file would instead be submitted to Coroner Manila Renee, who has legal authority to make the post mortem results public.
The pathologist had promised to submit the report by last weekend.
Meanwhile, the upset relative indicated that arrangements for the funeral had already been put in place. However, a date can only be set once the body was released.
“Listen, all day today I had a headache and it is really getting to me. I am feeling really down. It is time Shemar is laid to rest so that we can have some form of closure and start healing from there,” the loved one pleaded.