President Ramkalawan assents to the Inquest into Death Act |09 November 2021
President Ramkalawan assenting to the Inquest into Death Act (Photo: Jude Morel)
President Wavel Ramkalawan yesterday assented to the Inquest into Death Act in a small ceremony held at State House.
The object of this Act is to promote justice investigations and the identification of the causes and circumstances of sudden or unexplained deaths, or deaths occurred in certain circumstances.
Currently, inquests into death can be done under the criminal procedure Code, Cap. 54 and the Peace Officers Act Cap 157, but there are several deficiencies in the existing laws that this new Bill will seek to address.
President Ramkalawan noted that this bill is a very important one. “We felt that we needed a modern piece of legislation that takes into account all circumstances when somebody dies. There are too many instances where people die and create suspicions. The deficiencies of the previous law were noted and that is why we felt it was important to give our country such a law to help the family of the deceased ones to have closure. And also should there be any foul play, we will move to further investigation and justice will be established.”
President Ramkalawan remarked that this was an issue raised by the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) and also by Honourable Bernard Georges and the Attorney General Frank Ally.
“I would like to help them and other members of the medical and law sector for spearheading this initiative.”
President Ramkalawan stated that with the Inquest into Death Act, “no death shall go unnoticed. No death in this century should be seen as a non-event. Everybody is given life and when this life is taken away, it has to be properly recorded. As far as human rights is concerned, we are putting this country at that level where respect for life is considered above everything else”.
Magistrate Natasha Burian said that “on behalf of the Magistrate Court we are extremely pleased that this piece of legislation has come out. Often these inquests can be very complex and we have not had proper guidelines and regulations to guide the Magistrates over the years as for the correct procedure to be followed. There are cases sometimes where you can have 60 witnesses whose evidence need to be taken. If the death happens on an outer island, there are also visits that need to be carried out. Moving forward it is extremely important we have these guidelines in place to ensure that when inquests are carried out, they are done promptly and we give the family the closure they are looking for”.
“Often in the past, recommendations are made but because it is not compulsory for anyone to follow them, they are often ignored and put aside. Now with this new law, recommendations will be made and will be considered by the different institutions. A family should get an answer of what exactly happened to the deceased person from 3 to 6 months and allow the family to have proper closure,” explained Magistrate Burian.
For Honourable Georges, he shared that “this day is very important for us as we have been wanting a modernisation of this law for the simple reason to allow for an independent investigation as we all have a theory when somebody dies suddenly. There are also medical reasons why this is important. Then the case will be heard before a magistrate court and the family can make up their own mind on the case. After the Magistrate will give his/her legal opinion and decision. When the case is not clear, more investigations will be needed but at least the family will have a chance to know what happened. With this law, it is obligatory to have an inquest in any day. It is a big day for us as we all wanted (including myself) this law to be modernized”.
The new piece of legislation is also introducing new procedures for investigations of death cases, for example the new bill requires for the corpse to be examined by a doctor or pathologist who will prepare a medical report while the police will prepare a report detailing the investigation such as witness statements and other evidence.
Previous to this bill, the Criminal Procedure Code had tasked the police with writing a report detailing the wounds, bruising and other evidence on the body of the deceased person.
The Inquest into Death Act will provide the pathologist or doctor with access to the deceased person’s medical records.
It also provides for a judge, magistrate, lawyer or other legal expert to be appointed to carry out an investigation or inquest into the death of an unidentified person, death which occurred during a military or police operation, a death directly or indirectly related to a medical intervention or procedure, death occurring at a workplace or public transport and any death which occurred in Seychelles under suspicious circumstances.
The Inquest into Death Act will give the person mandated to undertake the investigation or inquest the ability to clarify only these following doubts: the identity of the deceased, when, where and what is the cause of death.
The person heading the investigation will not have the right to answer any criminal and civil, or have a disciplinary action taken against them.
This Inquest into Death Act also addresses the topic of autopsy, repatriation of bodies, burials and cremation, as well as exhumation of a body.
Vidya Gappy