Skull unearthed on new hotel site, no bullet casings found |18 May 2015

Police officers seen using metal detectors inside a cordoned area on Saturday morning at the site of the soon-to-open hotel at Beau Vallon were not filming a new movie about forensic investigation. They were trying to locate bullet casings after a human skull was found there.

The grisly mystery was unearthed in the hotel compound last week by a landscape worker and when Seychelles NATION contacted the police on the matter on Friday night, they said they could not confirm it.

On Saturday morning, assistant commissioner for policing, Reginald Elizabeth confirmed to the media that they have found a human skull at the site, but no bullet casings as some people have been saying.

Speaking to the media at the site itself, Mr Elizabeth said they received information about the discovery late Friday afternoon and when asked why they did not come to the scene on the same day, he replied they could not as it is a “dense and dark area”.

“By day break Saturday we were at the scene and we managed to find out the name of the landscape worker who found the skull and eventually locate him. That person had moved the skull from its original position and he showed us where he had buried it,” said Mr Elizabeth.

Asked to confirm if it is true there is a bullet hole in the skull, Mr Elizabeth said he could not at this time.
Concerning bullet casings which some landscape workers have said they have seen, Mr Elizabeth said the police had not seen any at the time of conducting the interview at around 11.15am on Saturday May 16, 2015.

“As you can see we are using metal detectors to try to locate any bullet casings if there is any,” continued Mr Elizabeth who added that some landscape workers said they first saw bullet casings on Monday May 11, 2015.

Still according to Mr Elizabeth, the police’s forensic investigation will continue at their Mont Fleuri-based laboratory to determine if it is the skull of a man or a woman and even the age of the person.

“This will help to narrow down our investigation. If as it is being said there is injury to the skull we will have to first determine if this is true. If yes we have to see if the injury could have caused the person’s death. Then we will have to determine if there has been an act of criminality,” said Mr Elizabeth who added that there was no evidence of any clothes.