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Akiel case to be reopened (with CNC3 video)
New information after 12 years—Coudray
Published:
Friday, October 19, 2012
Communication Minister Jamal Mohammed, right, passes a document to Gender Youth and Child Development Minister Marlene Coudray before the start of yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s. With them, at left, is Minister of Tobago Development Delmon Baker. PHOTO: MARCUS GONZALES
New information has surfaced more than 12 years after the mysterious death of 11-year-old Akiel Chambers and Government is moving to reopen the police investigation into his death. This was confirmed yesterday by Gender Youth and Child Development Minister Marlene Coudray during yesterday’s weekly post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.
On Wednesday during her contribution to the Senate debate on the 2013 budget, Coudray said there should be a call for the police to reopen investigations into the killing. Chambers’ body was found floating in a swimming pool at the Haleland Park, Maraval, home of Charles and Annelore James on May 24, 1998 after a birthday party. He was sexually molested.
No one saw Akiel bathe in the pool but when his body mysteriously surfaced the following day, Akiel was wearing a man’s swimming trunks. No one was charged as DNA samples were lost following police investigations. Many people had been calling for justice to be done in the matter.
Akile Chambers case to be re opened
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Coudray said yesterday she was not sure about the process to reopen the investigation but she had preliminary discussions with Attorney General Anand Ramlogan who was “to guide the process to see what could happen in that regard.”
In response to questions on the move to have the matter reopened, Coudray said she could not give a timeline for the process but “it is worth a try in terms of the information I have. It is worth a try.” She said she spoke with Ramlogan “only this morning” about the matter. She said the two would have more time tomorrow (today) to deal with the matter.
Confirming she had new information on the matter, Coudray said: “Every window of opportunity that we have, we must ensure we do all within our power to bring the person or persons to justice in that matter.” She said the fresh information had come to her knowledge “within recent times.”
Coudray told legislators on Wednesday many people had information and they owed it to the children that justice be done. Two post-mortems were conducted and a coroner’s inquest held. On another matter, on the proposed gender policy, Coudray said that was before Cabinet and would be put out for public comment again. She added Cabinet agreed to allocate $3 million to the Credo Foundation to reconstruct its drop in centre in Port-of-Spain.
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