Skull, arm bone foundBy CECILY ASSON Tuesday, October 6 2009
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Stephon Sandiford ...
ALMOST two years after he fell into the Couva River back in December 2007, the skull and arm of Stephon Sandiford were found lodged in a bamboo clump on Sunday, not too far from where he fell.
Police believe the remains, may be that of Stephon Sandiford, 22, a CEPEP worker of Railway Road, Couva.
Yesterday, Steve Sandiford identified the skull as belonging to his brother Stephon by means of four gold caps still attached to teeth in the jaw.
The remains were viewed by a District Medical Officer and ordered removed to the Forensic Science Centre.
Relatives said that further testing is expected to be conducted on the remains and two of Stephon’s siblings have been asked to give blood samples for DNA testing.
On December 20, 2007, Sandiford who was a part time PH driver (private hire) was among a group of four persons in a car which police identified as being involved in a $140,000 payroll robbery in Chaguanas. During a high speed chase and a subsequent shootout with police at Rivulet Road, Couva, Sandiford who was the driver of the green Opel car and two other men, Anslem “Slimbo” Stewart, Dennis “Chemist” Baptiste were injured.
Stewart and Baptiste were pronounced dead on arrival at the Couva District Health Facility while Sandiford’s body which police said fell into the swollen Couva River when he was wounded, was never recovered and he was presumed dead.
A fourth person, Narissa “Bubbles” Mohammed, a mother of two was subsequently arrested and charged with several criminal offences.
According to police, on Sunday evening, a villager searching for bamboo to be used for Divali celebrations went to the river and stumbled upon the skull and arm bone.
Yesterday, Sandiford’s mother Annette Banfield was inconsolable as she related how investigators called in her son yesterday to identify the remains.
“From the moment they went, they felt it was Stephon — I will have some closure now but I will continue to say that my son was innocent of whatever they accused him of,” Banfield said.
