The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell said government will soon determine whether to amend the law to allow a coroner’s inquest into two Bahamian men who died suspiciously in Italy three years ago.

The bodies of Alrae Ramsey, 29, a foreign service officer, and Dr Blair John, 28, a student at Saint Mary’s University, were pulled from the River Po in Turin, Italy, on June 4 and 5, 2019, after the men had been missing for several days.

While the autopsy reported that their deaths were likely accidental due to drowning, their families have rejected that explanation and believes the matter is unresolved.

In May, the relatives of the men applied to an Italian judge to obtain the investigation files. Mr Mitchell recently confirmed that the files had been received.

“I think many of them have no sense of closure because the explanations thus far just seem inexplicable,” he said.

“Our lawyers who have been in touch with them, said the families are grateful for the fact that we’re continuing to work on the problem to see if we can get some clear and independent answers because what has been presented to us just doesn’t make sense to us.

“You have two strong, healthy young men who simply seem to have fallen upon misfortune, and there doesn’t seem to be a logical reason for it. And particularly in a sophisticated society like Italy, it’s even more inexplicable, the explanations that have come forward.

“So, we’re happy to pursue it and see where it leads, and I’ll be briefing my Cabinet colleagues on whether or not we have to make some amendments to the law to make it possible for us to have our own coroner’s inquest.”

He said the files had been translated but could not give a timeline for completing their investigation.