Dead student's body parts still for overseas testing two years later

 

 

Two years after she died under mysterious circumstances, the parents of 24-year-old Colette Newland, a former foreign language student of the University of Guyana , are still waiting for her body parts to be sent overseas for forensic testing.

Newland, of 63 Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara, died on October 14, 2004 some six hours after consuming a popular beverage at the Turkeyen Campus.

Even as the years pass, her parents are still waiting for closure into the strange death.

Speaking with Kaieteur News, the dead woman's mother, Patricia Newland, said that she is very displeased with how her daughter's tragedy ‘has and is' being handled.

“It's as if everyone has forgotten about her. Up to now I haven't got a death certificate because the post mortem was inconclusive. The police forensic lab took samples for overseas testing, and as recently as early this year, nothing has been sent,” Mrs. Newland said.

She said that last October she and her husband sought a meeting with President Bharrat Jagdeo, who met with them.

The nursery school teacher said that after listening to their story, President Jagdeo sent them to outgoing Commissioner of Police Winston Felix.

“My husband and I met with the Commissioner, and while there with us, he sent for the person in the forensic laboratory who was in charge of our case. A woman came in and said that she will ensure the body parts are sent for testing. She said that she was waiting on some lab from Barbados for something.”

Mrs. Newland added that after the meeting with the Commissioner, she felt a bit of hope.

“We felt good, because we were thinking that finally somebody is going to look into the matter; but, unfortunately, nothing happened,” she said.

According to the mother of five, she again sought President Jagdeo's intervention into the matter.

“The President came to the village early this year, and again I raised the issue with him. He was apparently surprised that the matter wasn't dealt with. He sent me to Mr. Ganga Persaud, who assured us that the matter will be looked into, but like the first time, nothing has happened so far,” the woman said.

Recalling the events on the day her daughter died, Mrs. Newland said she was teaching a class when her husband called and told her that Colette was at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

“When he called me, he told me that someone called him and told him that Colette was at the hospital and that she drank a drink and was feeling upset. I didn't really take it for anything, because I thought that she drank an expired drink, but I still went down there,” Mrs. Newland said.

According to the woman, when she reached the hospital she saw her daughter lying on a bed in the emergency room, taking saline.

“When I walk up to her, I noticed that she didn't recognize me and that was very strange. I said, ‘Colette, what happen?' and she then turn and said, ‘Aunt Pat is you? I can't see. I don't know what happen. I buy a drink and after I drink, my stomach start to burn and then I couldn't see, and they brought me to the hospital,” the dead woman's mother said.

She said she left the emergency room and met with a young man outside, who told her that he and her daughter were going on campus together when the incident occurred.

“The boy told me that they both stop at a stall just behind UG and buy the drink. He said that when Colette open the drink and taste it she turn and said that ‘something ‘bout this drink burning my stomach,' but then she took another sip,” the still grieving mother said.

According to her, the other UG student told her that Colette placed the bottle on the counter and began staggering.

“He said that before she could have reached the ground he grabbed her and he put her to lie down on a bench. He told me that the lady at the shop gave her some water to drink. He said that after she drank the water, she said that she couldn't see and so they got a car and rushed her to the hospital,” Mrs. Newland said.

The woman said that she arrived at the hospital at about 11:30 hrs, but a doctor never examined her daughter until about 14:00 hrs that day.

“They just keep giving her saline. After I saw her condition I called my husband and told him to come down. When the doctor examined her, he admitted her. I went up with her to the ward and ensure that she was okay, and then me and my husband left to go home for some clothes,” she said.

According to the woman, a family friend remained at the hospital with Colette.

She said that the hospital gave her the beverage her daughter was drinking, and before leaving for home she went to the Food and Drugs Department in Kingston.

“While there, they told me that they could only do basic tests on the substance in the bottle. After I left there I came to Kaieteur News and then I went home for her clothes,” she recalled.

She said as she was about to approach her gate the family friend that had remain at the hospital called her husband and told him that Colette's conditioned had worsened.

According to her, when she returned to the hospital her daughter was in a semi-conscious state and was having trouble breathing.

She was subsequently taken to the Intensive Care Unit, Mrs. Newland said.

“We were outside and the doctor came out and invited me into a room, and that was when he told me that my daughter died,” the woman said.

She said that the doctor told her that Colette died while she was being prepared for a blood transfusion.

Four days after her death, an autopsy was performed, and the pathologist reportedly revealed that the cause of death was unclear.

Her death still remains a mystery.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

 

Family baffled at UG student’s death
THE family of the young University of Guyana student who died after drinking a beverage bought from a campus vendor Thursday, remained baffled at the cause of her death yesterday.

They suspect she was poisoned and said that before she died, Colette Newland, 24, lost her sight, all feelings in her upper body and was struck dumb.

Newland, of 63 Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara, was a second year Foreign Language student at the university and a Spanish teacher at the West Demerara Secondary School.

She died around 19:10 hours at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) after sipping a popular `soft drink’ which she bought from a vendor on the Turkeyen Campus.

She was rushed to the hospital by the vendor and his wife after she began frothing from the mouth and complaining of a burning sensation in her stomach.

At their home yesterday, her 19-year-old sister, Carlotta, a first year Management student at the university, said that before she died, her sister told her that the bottle of soda she bought was sealed and the product was not expired since she had checked the date on the label.

She recalled that she saw Colette on campus that morning around 10:25 hours. Colette told her that she was headed to the library and she proceeded to classes.

Carlotta said that about 25 minutes later, she received a telephone call from her father who told her that her sister had "drank something" and was hospitalised.

She said she did not take it seriously and after classes went to lunch.

She said she got another phone call just after 13:00 hours, this time from her mother who told her to go to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation immediately.

When she arrived, her sister was in the female medical ward surrounded by family and friends.

"When I went, she was saying `I can't see and my stomach and belly paining’", Carlotta said.

She said that her sister kept asking where she was because she could not see and was not responding when touched.

"You pinching her and she ain't feeling."

Carlotta said she did not return to classes and stayed with her sister, but the doctor insisted that it was only an allergic reaction and she (Colette) would just be kept for observation.

She said she left and at about 19:00 hours, she received another telephone call from her parents telling her to go to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital immediately.

The sister said that when she got there, she sensed that something was wrong since several family members were crying.

Her nine-year-old sister, Colesia told her that Colette had died.

"When I went in and saw her, she was very, very dark and they said that she had internal bleeding.”

Colette was the eldest of five children and also leaves to mourn her mother and father Patricia and Naylon Newland and two brothers, aged 21 and 15.

An officer of the Government Analyst Food and Drugs Department said an investigation at the outlet on campus revealed nothing out of the ordinary.

The vendor was selling out of a freezer and nothing pointed to the items being contaminated, he said

OCTOBER 16, 2004