Body found on Kingston foreshore identified as hospital IT manager

By LaWanda McAllister

Days after the body of a female was found on the foreshore behind the Marriott Hotel at Kingston Georgetown, Regional Police Commander Simon Mc Bean has said that the body has been identified as that of the Information Technology (IT) Manager at the St Joseph Mercy Hospital — 57-year-old Jennifer Sweetnam of Lot 8 Barima Avenue, Bel Air Park, Georgetown. Her identity has been confirmed by one of her relatives.

The woman’s body was washed ashore last Thursday, and was found face down on the beach. A passerby discovered the body, and the Police were subsequently alerted.
Sweetnam was reported missing by her family and friends after they had learnt that she did not show up for work on Thursday. A search party was launched, by it had proved futile.
Commander Mc Bean has said that, based on the information the Police received, the woman had been suffering from some form of depression since 2019. He said the Police are unaware whether the woman had returned home after leaving work on the Wednesday before she was reported missing, but investigators are currently combing through information they have gathered so far to understand what really had transpired.
The commander also stated that a postmortem examination was done on the woman’s body on Wednesday morning, and it gave her cause of death as drowning. The body has since been handed over to relatives.
When Guyana Times visited the woman’s home on Wednesday, this newspaper was told that Sweetnam has been living at the property for about 36 years, but had hardly spoken with anyone in the area. One neighbour has said that unless she greeted her, Sweetnam would not say anything to anyone. Sweetnam had no children, and lived with her brother up until he died last year. She had since been living alone.
Guyana Times was further informed that the woman’s brother had also died suddenly. Her cousin, John Pereira, told this newspaper that he realised something was amiss after he tried to call Sweetnam’s phone on Sunday last and did not get a response. Pereira further expressed concern about how the woman had gone missing. He said something does not add up in regard to how she had met her demise.
“The last time I heard from her was about a week ago, and I tried making contact with her on her cellphone, which was Sunday gone and on Monday, and got nothing… I went to where she used to work and they told me that apparently she was missing,” he said.
He said that her body was later found on the seawall, and her body is at the mortuary.
The man said he immediately informed other family members, and the woman was positively identified as his cousin. He was then told that after the woman did not report for duty, the Police had gone to her home in search of her, but she was not there.
“Normally she does take transportation with a taxi to and from work. She doesn’t catch a bus or anything, so I am unaware of how she ended up at the back of the Marriott Hotel. The taxi driver pick her up from there [work], because it’s a regular taxi that she does use”, he explained. “I don’t know if he tell her anything, or what transpired… When they found her, she was naked, and all her stuff was missing… From what I understand, she had no marks of violence on her body, and they are trying to say its suicide, but I can’t see how it reach to suicide…”, he said.
Pereira said that up until the last time he had spoken to Sweetnam, she had seemed okay and had showed no sign of being depressed.
“…she was working, going to work as regular,” he underscored.
The man has said he is hoping that a thorough investigation is done to reveal the truth on how the woman had met her demise. He is also pleading with Police officials to question the driver of the car, who was last seen picking up his cousin at her place of work.
Sweetnam had been working at the St Joseph Mercy Hospital for 38 years, and has been described as a very quiet and dedicated woman.