Crime
Questions about Inquest so long after Marie Kuhnla’s Death
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, June 16, 2022 – A coroner’s inquest is a legal inquiry into the cause and circumstances of a death; and the Turks and Caicos Government at the start of the month opened one into the death of Marie Kuhnla. She was a tourist from Long Island who was found dead on the property of Club Med in 2018. The question is why now?
Kuhnla’s family says they think it’s a stalling tool intended to derail a ten million dollar wrongful death lawsuit filed against Club Med or a way to save face.
A seven member jury was formed to listen to evidence in the inquest. Under UK law a jury is convened for a coroner’s inquest under specific circumstances including:
- the death was unnatural;
- the death was sudden or unexpected; or,
- the death was in other suspicious circumstances.
The reasons behind the inquest remain murky and no communication ha come immediately from the Government about the incident; at least not until the inquest concluded.
So for days on end, there was no explanation about why the coroner’s inquest was opened so long after the death.
What is clear though is that the TCI court system finds the case important enough to warrant spending money and putting resources behind reopening what happened to Kuhnla.
Attorney General for the Turks and Caicos Rhondalee Braithwaite Knowles told Magnetic Media she intended to make a statement at ‘the appropriate time’ but could not do so now because the matter was under judicial consideration and it ‘would not be appropriate to comment’. It is not unusual that matters under judicial consideration restrict comment from the judiciary.
Kuhnla’s family attorney, Abe George told I-Team, an NBC Media team on island covering the inquest, “They suggested essentially that Marie Khunla tripped and fell into the sand and killed herself which is the most ludicrous theory based off the evidence we have seen,” said George.
The coroner in the case is sticking to his initial findings which say Marie was murdered by manual strangulation, he also leveled accusations of criminal liability against an unnamed morgue employee who he said intentionally “decided that she was going to place this specific decedent (Kuhnla) under a heated exhaust fan” the coroner says this was not appropriate treatment.
No viable DNA could be recovered from a rape kit performed on Marie Kuhnla’s body when the coroner arrived.
Her son has described the inquest as a “sham” and “rubbing salt in the wound”
On June 7th, Susan Wallace the investigative journalist covering the event said NBC news NY had been refused virtual access to the trial after covering in person.
Rashaed Esson
Staff Writer
#Guyana, May 30, 2023 – Hearts are aching for the tragic loss of 19 children in a deadly school dormitory fire in Guyana, which a female student is suspected to have started after her cell phone was taken away by the dorm’s mother and a teacher according to a police statement.
The fire started while students were asleep; several of them were woken up by screams, according to the police.
It destroyed the Mahdia Secondary School and the 19 lives lost include 18 girls and a young boy.
However, despite the fact that when the firefighters arrived the building was already engulfed in flames, they were able to rescue 20 students by breaking down part of the building’s north eastern wall.
During the fire, which started in the bathroom and then consumed the whole building, police say 57 female students were in the dormitory which they described as a flat concrete building measuring about 100 feet by 40 feet, with
barred windows.
Also, the dorm is said to have been locked and had covered windows which would have trapped the students.
However, authorities have not revealed whether the students had difficulty evacuating the building; but it is reported that the dorm administrator – who is suffering the loss of her five year old son, couldn’t locate the keys to unlock the door due to panic.
Those injured as well as those who died, mostly indigenous girls, as the school housed children from indigenous communities from the wider area, were taken to the hospital, some of them still in serious condition.
The teenage suspect, is also currently hospitalized with burns, is accused of threatening her attack after she was confronted and disciplined for being in a relationship with an older man, as reported by the Associated Press, hence the possible reason her phone was taken.
Authorities are now taking advice on whether to charge her, according to a government source who spoke to the AFP news agency.
Local Guyanese media reports that the blaze, which firefighters took over three hours to contain, was so severe that DNA testing was needed to identify some of the victims.
Mohamed Ifran Ali, Guyana’s President has declared three days of national mourning in response to the tragedy that occurred on Sunday May 21st, 2023.
By Wilkie Arthur
Freelance Court Reporter
#TurksandCaicos, May 30, 2023 – Appearing on Tuesday May 23, before her ladyship the Hon. Tanya Lobban-
Jackson was the accused Denardo Ewing for the rape of a female tourist.
The allegation dates back to July 2021. The alleged victim reported to police that she was ganged raped by males on the night in question in Providenciales. Ewing was the lone suspect charged; there had been reports however that TCI Police did make more than one arrest in connection to the alleged sexual assault.
The matter was listed for mention last week as Ewing’s attorney has filed an application to exclude certain evidence. The application will be heard at a later date and the defendant remains on bail pending his trial in December of this year.
Denardo Ewing is represented by Sheena Mair of F-Chambers Law firm.
By Wilkie Arthur
Freelance Court Reporter
#TurksandCaicos, May 30, 2023 – Arrested in October 2016, Vicki Wilson, formerly of the Providenciales Employment Service of the Immigration Department will still face trial for alleged acts of corruption in the work place. Wilson on Tuesday May 23, 2023 appeared in court; represented by Mr. Oliver Smith, KC, who appeared by video link.
The Court learned that discussions had started between the office of the DPP and King’s Counsel Smith on behalf of
the accused related to the matter being disposed of or dropped altogether. However, those talks fell through and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has advised the matter proceed to trial.
In a 2017 report, TCI Police informed: “Following a joint investigation between the RT&CIPF Financial Crimes Unit and the Integrity Commission, a 48 year old female of Providenciales was formally charged and caution for 13 counts of uttering forged document, one count of corruption and one count of use of criminal property. The investigation commenced in November 2016 after number of allegations of Forged Turks and Caicos Islands Work Permits being issued to a number of persons within the Haitian and Dominican Communities.”
Alleged co-conspirator and co-accused Shadika Green was in 2019 found guilty of the charges by a jury.
A trial date for Vicki Wilson is now fixed for commencement on October 30, 2023. Her bail has been extended to that date.
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