An official of the Dade County Medical Examiners' Department in Miami, yesterday said there is one more test to be conducted on body tissues of murder accused, Mark `Kerzorkee' Thomas.
Thomas died suddenly on February 1 at the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was a patient since January 16 having collapsed at the Brickdam Police Station as he was being told he was to be charged with the murder of cattle farmer, Shafeek Bacchus.
He was charged along with Ashton King, owner of the A&D Funeral Home and Shawn Hinds who are both in prison awaiting the commencement of the preliminary inquiry. The three were charged after Bacchus' brother, George, said they among other persons were responsible for his brother's murder. An autopsy on February 4 was inconclusive and samples were taken from 12 parts of Thomas' body, sealed and handed over to the police to be shipped to the US.
The senior official in the toxicology department told Stabroek News that the tests would be completed "soon" and the results handed over to the authorities in Guyana.
And the official yesterday also explained that the lab does not do any DNA testing, adding that they would not be able to inform on the validity of the samples.
Stabroek News put that question to the official since there has been speculation that the officials at the lab were of the opinion that the samples were not that of Thomas.
"I would not be able to comment on that since our lab cannot determine the validity of the samples. We were asked to carry out some tests on the samples and that is what we are doing.
Our testing does not include that kind of testing. We know we have taken a while to complete the tests, but we want to be very thorough and the tests would be completed soon. You have to remember that there were several body samples and we are performing several tests," the official said.