By Latrishka Thomas
It appears that the outcry from residents, law enforcement officials and legal practitioners over the lengthy process of getting forensic results has not fallen on deaf ears.
After years of appeals from many – including Police Commissioner Atlee Rodney – Antigua and Barbuda could soon finally have its own forensic laboratory.
Public Safety Minister Steadroy Benjamin recently told Observer that the lab could be established within a month, with ballistic testing – the examination of evidence from firearms – as one of its capabilities.
“We had a meeting with the experts in the area. We already located the building where the forensic lab will be established. It’s in the Carlisle area and we are hoping very shortly with effective planning to start doing our own ballistic testing here in Antigua.
“That will come to fruition within the next month,” he said.
Back in 2020, the government promised to establish such a facility to reduce the likelihood of miscarriages of justice.
However, years later, evidence still has to be sent overseas for analysis – a process which can take several months, as in the case of a teenage boy believed to have perished in a house fire in Nut Grove in January 2022.
The youngster’s remains were sent abroad for analysis after being discovered at the scene of the blaze, but it took 11 months for the results to be returned and thus the child to be laid to rest.
At this moment, the Willikies family of still-missing autistic teen, Shamar Harrigan, is still awaiting results of tests from human remains found in close proximity to some of Harrigan’s personal effects during a search for the young boy in December last year.