~Hamer and supporters including CGID questions the integrity of police investigations.~
PHILIPSBURG:--- One day after SMN News published an article calling on the Government of St. Maarten and the Justice Ministry to step in a grant assistance to Guyanese Dutch St. Maarten resident Keoma Hamer in her search for her stolen babies, the Government and Police of Antigua and Barbuda responded through their GIS media service ABS News.
In the news broadcast, Deputy Commissioner of Police Albert Wade said that the Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda had DNA tests done on the child that is fingered to be a possible child of Hamer and her parents and the results show the persons the child knows as her mom and dad are 99.999% their daughter.
However, the Deputy Commissioner of Police Atlee Rodney in a letter dated December 4th, 2019 states that the DNA does not rule out the two adults as the minor’s parents.
The Government of Antigua also made a statement Friday evening and they stated the following.
A female unknown to virtually everyone in Antigua and Barbuda has made a claim that fifteen years ago while transiting Antigua, she was transported to the now-defunct Holberton Hospital, where she delivered twins.
She has made a claim that a nurse informed her that the infants died in childbirth. Following that harrowing experience, she proceeded to another Caribbean country and has continued to live there for the one-and-one-half-decade up until today. Within the past months, that female has made a claim that she has reason to believe that the twins did not die and that they are now young adults.
Having identified one young female as a likely baby of fifteen years ago, the Antigua and Barbuda Royal Police Force persuaded the parents (and child) to undertake DNA tests. A reputable laboratory has returned irrefutable evidence that the youth is the child of the two parents she calls Mom and Dad. That evidence puts the lie to the claim that this particular young adult is the result of a supposed crime, committed fifteen years ago.
While every young adult, birthed fifteen years ago, cannot be DNA-tested as the three decent people have undergone, a police investigation continues to determine if there is any evidence to support the claim made by the unknown female. The several ministries and the police are pursuing every lead.
Dr. Joey John, principal of Medical-Surgical Associates, reported by way of a letter dated October 7, 2004, that he had been called to the Holberton Hospital to treat the ailing woman. He confirms that “on 8th September 2004 she had a spontaneous abortion of the twins.” She was 28 weeks pregnant and was later found to have infections that needed to be treated with antibiotics. A week after the event, she left Antigua for St. Martin. The documentation, therefore, debunks the claim of live births.
The investigative expertise of law enforcement is being deployed to determine if there could be any evidence to support her claim, which is debunked by the evidence presented thus far.
Statement from Rickford Burke CGID.
In response to the statements made both by the Police of Antigua & Barbuda, Rickford Burke from the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) criticized the remarks made by the Prime Minister of Antigua. Burke recapped exactly what transpired in September 2004 when Hamer was transported by Ambulance to the Holberton Hospital, where she delivered twin girls that subsequently disappeared.
Burke further called for an independent inquiry be conducted because the integrity of the Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda is being questioned. He said based on the information he has the Attorney General of Antigua & Barbuda are somehow related to the family that has been fingered in the alleged abduction and human trafficking. Burke said he also has information he receives also indicates that the person related to the said family is working in the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Antigua and Barbuda. He asked how transparent the investigation was and who monitored when the samples were being taken from the family that has been identified thus far by Keoma Hamer.
Burke also called for an independent body to be established that would also take DNA samples from Keoma Hamer and the child that was identified.
Statement from Keoma Hamer
Keoma Hamer who went public in June 2019 said that she was forced to go public via social media as the Government of Antigua & Barbuda was not responding to her emails and phone calls. She said in February she dispatched several emails to the Ministry of Health asking that her records of hospitalization in September 2004 be located and turned over. Hamer said after not receiving any response from the Ministry of Health she took to social media and it was only then the Minister of Health Molwyin Joseph emailed her and informed her that he has launched an investigation. Based on several Whatsapp messages that Hamer provided to SMN News the Minister assured Hamer that the Police of Antigua & Barbuda would contact her and invited her to submit a sample for DNA and to date that was not done.
The Antiguan Minister of Health even stated that he had discussed the matter with the Attorney General of Antigua & Barbuda and passed on his phone number to Hamer so she could make contact with him. Hamer did as was advised and despite her efforts, the Police of Antigua & Barbuda was not reaching out to Hamer to provide her on updates on the investigation neither did they ever invited her to give samples for DNA testing.
On December 12th the Deputy Commissioner of Police reached out to Hamer only informing her that the DNA results did not rule out the family to be the parents of the child that was also fingered to be one of Hamer’s abducted baby.
Hamer responded to the police by submitting a list of questions that were never answered instead on December 19th, 2019 she received an email where the police informed her that they would like for her to meet with them and for her to submit documents to them as they continue to investigate.
SMN News also received the full telephone interview that was conducted by ABS news but was not aired in its entirety. SMN News has decided to publish that entire interview so that readers here on St. Maarten that are following the Keoma Hamer stolen babies’ saga get full discloser.
Keoma Hamer has made clear that she will not give up her search for her stolen daughters and calls on the Antiguan Government to do the honorable thing and conduct an impartial investigation that would shed light on what exactly transpired in September 2004 when she fell ill while in transiting in Antigua. She said mothers in the Caribbean should take heed because what happened to her can happen to anyone and based on her experience thus far justice in Antigua and Barbuda cannot be had.
