Three people appear before TRNUC in ad hoc sessions |25 February 2020

Basil Savy (Photo: Joena Meme)

Three people appeared before the Truth Reconciliation and National Unity Commission yesterday to present what they know in three different cases.

The first witness talked through a live session, the second through a live session but only her voice could be heard as she did not want to appear before viewers, while the session later in the afternoon was a closed one.

The first person, Basil Savy, interacted briefly with the Truth Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) commissioners via Skype from Australia where he is residing to provide some clarifications in Case 0022 relating to the deaths of Simon Denousse and Mike Asher during the evening of October 19, 1982.

It is to be recalled that Mr Savy first presented his testimony in relation to the said case to the commission on February 14.

Case 210: Death of soldier Timothée Lepathy by severe burns to his whole body

Regina Lepathy of Takamaka, a complainant, told the commission how her son, Timothée Lepathy, suffered burns to his whole body while in a prison cell at Union Vale in the 1980s although she could not recall the precise date and month of the incident.

Her son was a soldier and she told the commission how on the evening of this incident three soldiers came to her house to inform her that her son had been involved in an accident and was in hospital.

When one of her daughters asked her to take some of his clothes the soldiers said there was no need and when she asked questions as to why, they had no answers for her.

That evening it was already late when they arrived in Victoria so she slept at one of her nephews’ so she could visit her son in hospital the next day.

“When I saw my son and how his whole body was burnt, I asked how it happened and I was told bluntly that it was cigarette burns. But my son who was still able to talk told me that he had gone to the clinic that day to have a wound on his foot dressed but returned a bit late so he was locked in a cell. After sometime he was expected to be released but instead at some point he felt cold after something was poured on him after which he just passed out,” Mrs Lepathy recounted.

Mrs Lepathy said she believed that when her son was rushed to hospital those responsible for his burns believed he was already dead but he managed to speak to her and spent a month and 12 days in hospital before his agonising death.

Mrs Lepathy produced a photo of her son’s burnt body to the commissioners who showed it to the viewers. But Mrs Lepathy herself did not want to appear before the camera even though she was heard speaking live. She said her son did not smoke nor drink. But the army officers alleged he drank two bottles of ‘KWV’ and smoked something which she found strange as these things were not allowed in the army camp.

After the tragedy, Mrs Lepathy said she was not given any further explanations by senior army officers so at some point she asked to see the Minister for Defence, Ogilvy Berlouis, but she was denied that chance, then she asked to see the president and was again denied the opportunity.

Asked if she was informed that the army had sought to carry out an investigation to determine what really happened to her son, Mrs Lepathy said she heard of no investigation whatsoever. She was unable to tell the commission how long her son was enrolled in the army but she said he was the sole bread winner on whom she relied as her husband had died several years back when her children were all still very young.

Asked if she had seen any medical report of her son’s cause of death, Mrs Lepathy said she was not informed of anything and the army took care of all the funeral arrangements and she was told not to open the coffin but she said she did open the coffin for everybody at the wake to see him.

Mrs Lepathy noted that after the funeral nobody from the army came to visit her even though she was told that the army would continue to support her but that did not happen. Sometimes later, Mrs Lepathy said she went to see former President James Michel who gave her R20,000 and that was all but he never talked about what happened to my son.

She also went to see Leopold Payet who denied the army had anything to do with what happened to her son.

One day, an army officer by the name of Nivard Vidot asked her if she was receiving any monthly payment on behalf of Timothée.

“I said no but he assured me that the money was being paid every month but he was not sure who collected and benefited from it,” Mrs Lepathy noted, adding she had altogether six children whom she raised all alone.

Mrs Lepathy said Mr Vidot was attending a course abroad at the time of the incident and she firmly believed that if he was in the country then she would probably have known more details about what really happened to her son and who was responsible.

Michael Green, the vice-chair of the commission, informed Mrs Lepathy that the commission is investigating the case and has already written to former Brigadier Leopold Payet, Clifford Roseline and other officers in the army, but at the same time it is calling on any person out there who was in the army or who has seen the photo of the burnt body and recognised the young man and who know what happened to him or what happened to lead up to the incident that caused his burns and subsequent painful death to please come forward to help his mother put closure to her long years of suffering.

The third witness who appeared before the commission yesterday was heard in a closed session.

Marie-Anne Lepathy