Tobago Correspondent
The autopsies for Sarah Smith and her children, Phoenix and Genuine, are scheduled for Monday, sources at the Scarborough General Hospital Mortuary have confirmed.
The three were found dead in a decommissioned WASA tank in Parlatuvier, Tobago, after being reported missing days before.
A foul odour from the tank led police to their bodies during a search operation on September 10. Smith, originally from Trinidad, had moved to Tobago seeking a better life.
Her mother Jacqueline Wayne, who had reported her missing, said she had begun to notice unusual behaviour from Sarah, including complaints of hearing voices and walking naked through the community.
Sources told Guardian Media yesterday that Wayne, who helped in the search, was still struggling to come to terms with their deaths.
She has been unreachable since her interview with Guardian Media hours after the discovery.
On Wednesday, sources revealed a forensic backlog has developed in Tobago, with seven cases awaiting autopsies.
These include Smith and her children; Nicholas Mitchell and Brandon Edwards, who were killed by gunmen in Argyle over the weekend of September 21-22; along with Razeen Quashie and Hakeem Anderson, who died in a police-involved shooting on September 16.
Guardian Media could not confirm if all seven autopsies will be done on Monday.
This backlog, according to the official, is the largest in Tobago since the discovery of 14 bodies and skeletal remains from a boat that drifted into Tobago in 2021.
Information from the source suggests that the current delays are happening because Tobago does not have a resident pathologist and those assigned to the island are at odds over the weekly roster rotation.
National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, who was unaware of the issue, promised to investigate on Wednesday. He could not be reached for an update yesterday.
The acting director of the Forensic Science Centre, Derrick Sankar, declined to comment.
Secretary for the Division of Health, Wellness and Social Protection, Faith B Yisrael, also could not be reached for comment.