The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A CORONER’s Court yesterday ordered that death certificates be issued to the families of five victims who died during Hurricane Dorian in 2019 after ruling that drowning was their most likely cause of death.

In a written ruling handed down yesterday, Coroner Jeannine Weech-Gomez ordered for death certificates to be issued to the families of James Capron, Jeffrey Danis, Melida Almazie, Antonio Outten and Claudine Byfield Etienne.

Four of the victims, who were previously reported as missing, were officially confirmed dead after their bodies were positively identified by police by DNA analysis.

Yesterday, Coroner Weech-Gomez labelled the likely cause of death for all the named victims as “drowning”.

“I have ordered that the death certificates be completed by the pathologists to reflect the names on their respective death certificates that were initially labeled as unknown and the families be permitted to collect those death certificates through the registrar general,” she told the court.

Coroner Weech-Gomez’s comments came as she concluded the first part of an inquest into the presumed deaths of people reported missing following the massive storm in 2019.

The inquest, which began in April, was done in an effort to answer questions about who the missing people were and the circumstances surrounding their presumed deaths.

It was also meant to bring some official closure to family members concerning their deaths.

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

However, the court has only heard from relatives of some 17 victims reported as missing.

These include people whose remains were never found or were never positively identified through DNA.

Victims identified by family members who testified include Kathleen Farquharson, Modena Hepburn, Myeisha and Jendayia Edgecombe, Emmanuel Saintil, Alphonse Laguerre, Michael Dawkins Sr, Melik Moultrie, Juanita Lowe, Lee Roy Lowe, Astrid Stratton, Constance Schneider, Emile Raphile, Nildiese Vincent, Ezra Davis and Rose Marie Lubin.

Yesterday, Coroner Weech-Gomez said while “there was no doubt” that the missing people were indeed dead, she could not order for death certificates to be given to relatives as her court did not have the authority to do so.

She advised that family members will instead be given a copy of her written ruling and will be allowed to request a death certificate for their respective loved ones at the registrar general’s department.

Dorian hit Abaco on September 1, 2019, as a Category Five storm. The storm’s official death toll is 74, however many more people remain missing.

“Hurricane Dorian was the deadliest hurricane to strike the Bahamas in recent history,” Coroner Weech-Gomez said.

“We have not in modern days seen an event which has caused so much death, havoc and unspoken pain.”

After Coroner Weech Gomez gave her ruling, The Tribune contacted family members who had testified during the Dorian inquest for a reaction.

Emily Bethel, who testified late last month about her missing aunt and uncle—Juanita and Lee Roy Lowe—described the ruling as good news and added that it would give the family closure.

“That would be a help because we’ve been trying to finalize some things and we need the death certificate for that, you know. So, we would like to know,” she said.

However, Ms Bethel said the family would still like to hear back from police officials concerning the DNA samples submitted by relatives to help locate her aunt’s and uncle’s bodies.

She said: “We haven’t heard anything and we would’ve liked to have heard that they had a match...because we have a picture of (my aunt’s) body on the back of a truck, but what they did with the body, I have no clue.”