By: La’Wanda McAllister
Though police are currently working with the theory that the woman whose body was on Thursday last found at the Kingston Seawall may have died by suicide, family members believe foul play could be involved and are calling for the police to conduct a proper probe before closing the case.
The body of 57-year-old Jennifer Sweetnam of Barima Avenue, Bel Air, Georgetown was found by passersby lying face down on the beach behind the Marriott Hotel. She was naked.
The woman worked as an Information Technology (IT) specialist at the St Joseph Mercy Hospital where she has been employed for the past 36 years.
Initially, the woman was unidentified but a relative subsequently made contact with authorities and confirmed that the body was that of the missing woman, who last showed up to work on Wednesday.
The woman had lived with her brother until his demise last year. Thereafter, she lived alone and according to neighbours, the woman always kept to herself. She was unmarried and has no children.
Regional Commander Simon McBean told this publication that based on information received so far, the woman has been suffering from depression since 2019. A postmortem conducted today gave the cause of death as drowning.
During an interview with this publication, the woman’s cousin, John Pereira expressed concerns about the circumstances surrounding the woman’s demise.
“The last time I heard from her was about a week ago and I tried making contact with her on her cellphone which was Sunday gone, and on Monday and got nothing…I went to where she used to work, and they told me that apparently, she was missing and her body at the mortuary,” the cousin related.
The man said he immediately informed other family members who made contact with the authorities in order to positively identify the body.
He was then told that after the woman did not show up for work, the police went to her home in search of her, but she was not there.
“Normally she does take transportation with a taxi to and from work. She doesn’t catch a bus or anything, so I am unaware of how she ended up at the back of the Marriot Hotel. The taxi driver pick her up from there [work] because it’s a regular taxi that she does use,” the cousin further related.
“I don’t know if he tell her anything, or what transpired…when they found her, she was naked and all her stuff was missing… from what I understand she had no marks of violence on her body and they are trying to say it’s suicide, but I can’t see how it reach to suicide…,” the relative contended.
Pereira related that the last time he spoke with his cousin, she seemed okay and showed no sign of being depressed.
“…she was working, going to work as regular,” he expressed.
The man said he is hoping that a thorough investigation is done to reveal the truth on how the woman met her demise. He is also pleading with police officials to question the driver of the car who was last seen picking up his cousin at her place of work.
