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Capital Cops Puzzling Over Baby Janeeka’s Death
posted (December 9, 2016)
Last night, we took you to St. Matthew's Village in the Cayo district for an inside look at the life of 1 year-old toddler Janeeka Campbell. She's the baby who was found unresponsive at her home on Tuesday. A post-mortem confirmed that she didn't die of natural causes, but what did cause her death? Well, at this time, the investigators still have strong reasons to believe that neglect or abuse contributed to the tragedy.

Today, Belmopan's Commander, Senior Superintendent, Howell Gillett told the media that the medical language used by the pathologist is unclear to police. He told us that the officers intend to seek clarifications from the medical examiner, and they intend to consult with both the Department Human Services, and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions:

Sr. Supt. Howell Gillett, OC, Belmopan Police
"We have some medical terms that we're trying to work around because what I understand as I've read it is it's hemorrhaged due to head and chest trauma. This Monday we'll try to arrange a meeting with the pathologist to get some more detailed explanation in simpler terms as to what cause the death. Also what we want to verify is the fact that we want to find out if the injuries that were observed during the post mortem, are consistent to the statements that we have thus far which are saying that the child might have fell from the veranda unto the steps and otherwise. We want to verify that, we will get the DPP involved, we'll prepare what we have. As a matter of fact, we have a few statements and we'll send those to the DPP to get clarification and a legal opinion if what we have is sufficient to lay any criminal charges. In my view and experience, what we have so far is not nearly sufficient to refer a criminal charge against anyone or any set of people. Yes, we as police officers have dealt with many cases in our careers, but I don't think it's time for me to speculate, I prefer to hear directly from the pathologist who conducted the post mortem to tell us whether these injuries that he observed are consistent with a fall. We have to clear that up and some of the medical terms that we used, we want to have a better interpretation of those. As I said, we'll work with the pathologist and the director of public prosecutions office before we even think about laying charges against anybody."

Reporter
"Sir initially the mother was detained and the police were looking for the father. Has anything changed in terms of that?"

Sr. Supt. Howell Gillett, OC, Belmopan Police
"Yes indeed the mother was in our custody, we got useful information from her and the father was brought into custody yesterday. He's cooperating with us, but it's not to say we believe all that they've said. It needs a thorough investigation and we're taking our time with it because baby Janeeka deserves the very best so we would want to ensure the public that we are doing a very intense and detailed investigation. I believe in the very near future we'll have a response or some closure to this case. But at the least I can say it appears, based on what we have seen and I'm no expert in this area, but it shows we'll also get the department of human services involved because in our view there might have been some form of neglect on the part of the parents."

Both parents have been questioned, and they remain under scrutiny. It will be decided later on if any criminal action will be taken against them for the death of Baby Janeeka.

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