POLICE AND SBC COVER UP IN DAMANDRA EULENTIN’S MURDER

Someone once said that a picture speaks a thousand words! Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly has obtained several photographs of Damandra Eulentin which proves beyond any doubt that Eulentin was indeed tortured and brutally murdered before his dead body was dumped in the sea with an engine block tied around his neck to make sure that evidence of this gruesome murder never surfaces again. Damandra is the 26 year old young man who disappeared in mysterious circumstances only to be accidentally discovered by a local fisherman when on a regular fishing trip. The Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) and its Managing Director, Ibrahim Afif, with the apparent collusion of the Commissioner of Police, went to extraordinary length last week to deny the story which broke for the first time in this newspaper. Afif, oblivious to recent criticisms by Judge Riley, continued with his bias reporting without interviewing the deceased’s family, the doctor who did the post mortem operation or the Commissioner of police to give its viewing public the whole picture for them to make their own informed decision on the matter. Instead, Afif, in a move that many perceived as insulting the intelligence of the general public, spoon-fed us with the usual garbage forced upon him by his masters. The questions many are now asking is why the cover up? Why not own up to the truth?

Pictures do not lie and the graphic photographs published on the inside page of this paper (see below) clearly show that Damandra Eulentin may have been shot in the left side of his neck leaving a big gaping hole where the bullet had penetrated and exited. His penis had been partly cut off and there are extensive bruises all over his face, back and front part of his body. Witnesses have confirmed that Damandra was found in a squatting position with both his arms and hands tied behind his head. His decomposed body had to be straightened up to fit in the coffin for burial. He was also found without his clothes except for his underwear. Eye witnesses have also confirmed that there were signs that a foreign object had been forced inside his rectum during the torture session. The hospital has refused to give Damandra’s family his post mortem report which should confirm the existence of the injuries and show evidence of the torture before his death. There have been more than ten unsolved murders in Seychelles since 1993 and it is clear that mysterious disappearances of people which were common during the one party state era continues unabated even today. During the past two years alone there have been more than five reported and unsolved murders amongst which Ricky Hermitte, a young girl at Mont Fleuri and a young man of Praslin were given prominence in the media. Yet others have been classified as suicides although the circumstances of these deaths are suspicious and seem to suggest otherwise.

People have started pointing fingers at the dreaded State Security apparatus for these mysterious deaths because of the style, manner and obvious professionalism employed to commit these crimes. Despite hasty attempts by both SBC and the police to cover up the torture and murder of Damandra Eulentin, the truth shall prevail. Can the person or persons who committed this gruesome murder sleep easy at night is a question which many are now asking. We are therefore calling on anybody who knows anything at all about this incident to come forward and assist the police in their investigation in order to bring whoever is responsible to justice!

July 20, 2007

Copyright 2007: Seychelles Weekly, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles