Former policeman says circumstantial evidence upholds murder charge

The murder charge filed against the ex-boyfriend of Vincia James of New Winthorpes has generated public discourse on whether or not one can be convicted if the body of the alleged murder victim is not found.
However, former commissioner of police Rawlston Pompey has told OBSERVER media that the charge against Mikhail Gomes is warranted once the police have secured circumstantial evidence.
“A person can be charged with murder even if a body was not recovered, you must have what we call strong circumstantial evidence,” Pompey said yesterday.
He explained that when a person is reported missing, investigators in the case operate under the “presumption” that the missing person is dead.
“Although we never tell families this, we give them assurances that we will get the person back safe and sound but we have no guarantee of that and so there is a presumption by the investigators that the person is dead,” Pompey said.
In elaborating on the murder charge, the former commissioner said that in most cases police have direct evidence, which he explained as having “eyewitnesses – people, who will come to the court and give evidence upon oath as to what they saw or can recall from the incident”.
Under the law, a missing person who has had no communication with the authorities or family members is pronounced dead after seven years.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)