KINGSTON - Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, addressing attendees at an exhibition held to celebrate World Maritime Day, said that coroner’s inquest will be held for those who lost their lives via river accidents.
He said while the question of accidents on the waterways came to the attention of the administration even before they came into power, the administration stands and remains concerned over any unfortunate or unforeseen deaths, regardless of the sector.
“Cabinet has reintroduced the coroner’s inquest where every death by unnatural cause; irrespective of sector or reason, will be given an inquest. It is in our laws and it is due to the families of the bereaved,” Minister Patterson remarked.
An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, held to determine the cause of a person’s death. In Guyana the sitting magistrate acts as a coroner, who empanels a jury after which conducts the inquiry.
Patterson declared that the inquest would not be held to apportion blame but to simply establish what went wrong and where, so that it can be corrected, thereby minimizing future occurrences.
Recently, the Maritime Administration embarked on an aggressive campaign to sensitise, train and equip speedboat operators on the acceptable level of safety that must be attained.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, is on record as saying that Cabinet intends on reviewing the coroner’s legislation with a view of expanding those who are qualified to sit as coroners.
The primary objective of this move is to remove all hurdles and ensure inquests are given the necessary attention needed, taking into account the heavy workload the sitting magistrates face on a daily basis.
