The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

TWO witnesses testified in the Coroner’s Court yesterday about their frantic efforts to find loved ones who went missing during Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

The inquests into Hurricane Dorian’s missing people began Monday and is scheduled to continue for at least the next two weeks.

The inquests are happening in the absence of a jury after Coroner Jeanine Weech-Gomez requested this of Attorney General Carl Bethel in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Coroner’s Court’s list of missing people includes about 35 people.

Relatives yesterday testified about the missing status of Claudine Mayfield Etienne, 55, and Jeffrey Denis, 41, according to the police prosecutor, Inspector Pratt.

Deonette Henlon, Ms Etienne’s sister, said she spoke to Ms Etienne up to 8am of the morning of the storm. She said BTC’s system was down so she could not reach her sister after the storm. She checked the National Emergency Management Agency and other organisations and still couldn’t find her sister, who was a seamstress. She took a trip to Abaco and discovered that only the foundation of her sister’s home and some personal items were there. Officials have taken DNA samples from one of her other sisters who lives in Jamaica.

Mr Denis’ sister, Ellen Jacques, filed a missing person’s report after she could not locate her brother. She said people told her they saw his body and it was collected by police and taken to the morgue. However, she filed a missing person’s report after her personal efforts to find him failed.

Three witnesses are expected to testify during today’s hearing in addition to  representatives from the Department of Meteorology.

The inquests will determine who the missing people were and when, why and how they died.

National Security Minister Marvin Dames said last year that 279 people were missing after Hurricane Dorian.

The issue of the missing people from the storm has at times been controversial. Former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands expressed concern last year that no explanation had been given regarding how hundreds of names were excluded from an early list of people who were reported missing. He said the government had mishandled the matter.

In response, Mr Dames said he was shocked and “profoundly disappointed” by Dr Sands’ comments, calling them disingenuous and misleading.

“The police immediately went to work to compile a centralised list which totaled 1,092 people from both Grand Bahama and Abaco,” he said.

“Of the total, 34 were from Grand Bahama and 1,058 were from Abaco.

“After the police took receipt of the initial list and began their reconciliation work, they discovered that the list consisted not only of missing persons but also persons in need of housing assistance, persons reporting other crimes, persons who were displaced, and duplication of names.

“The number of persons falling within these categories totaled 813.

“The police missing person’s list currently stands at 279.”