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Sands family want official inquest
Apr 6, 2005
The family of a New Zealander who died in an African jail has requested an investigation into his death and an autopsy on his body.
Hamish Sands was being held in Ivory Coast by rebel soldiers who accused him of being a mercenary.
The rebels say he died of natural causes, but his family wants an autopsy to prove he didn't kill himself.
Composed in her grief, Catherine Sands-Wearing, Hamish Sands' sister spoke on Wednesday on behalf of his family.
"It is devastating for us and for everyone that has worked so hard on Hamish's and our behalf that it now seems he will not be returning," she says.
The question now is how he died and why?
"Well he's not of an age where natural causes would be an immediate thought for why he might have died and his
r
family certainly do not believe that he was suicidal so there is a risk of foul play," sa
ys Foreign Minister Phil Goff.
Half a world away in the Ivory Coast, Sands rebel captors claimed he died of natural causes, however international observers won't comment until there's a formal autopsy.
But back here, the question that is being asked is did the New Zealand government do enough for Sands.
For now his sister believes they did.
"In particular we would like to recognise their professionalism and compassion in dealing with our family," says Sands-Wearing
Until a few days before his death, Hamish Sands was imprisoned here in the frontline rebel town of Boauke.
But last weekend, he and 34 other prisoners were moved to a jail 232 kilometres north of.
The rebel leadership was convinced Sands was a mercenary hired to assassinate two of its top leaders while his family had always maintained he was more wannabe, than the real thing.
&quo
t;W
e have no clear understanding at this stage what he was doing in the Ivory Coast we still believe that he presented no threat," says San
ds-Wearing.
A close friend painted another picture.
This rubbish about his problem like a mental disability is a load of bull," says Robert Walker.
"He was very onto it, like he was very very clued up."
Walker still has the photos of him and Sands touring Australia together in the early nineties.
"He was always out there, doing it, you know he was motivated, he never kept still. And i just don't believe he would take his own life," says Walker.
There are still hopes of a homecoming of sorts if his body is repatriated.
"If all parties concerned, that is both of course the New Zealand authorities, his family, and the authorities in the north - would agree to that initiative. If we're asked to do something like that, we would consider it very positively," says Kim Gordon-Bates
, the I
vory Coast Rec Cross representative in Abidjan.
We may never really know whether he went for money or adventure, but we do know he was a New Zealander in trouble abroad, and as such did he deserve to l
anguish in an African jail?
Skerryvore,
madkins
tvnz.co.nz
Sands family want official inquest
Apr 6, 2005
The family of a New Zealander who died in an African jail has requested an investigation into his death and an autopsy on his body.
Hamish Sands was being held in Ivory Coast by rebel soldiers who accused him of being a mercenary.
The rebels say he died of natural causes, but his family wants an autopsy to prove he didn't kill himself.
Composed in her grief, Catherine Sands-Wearing, Hamish Sands' sister spoke on Wednesday on behalf of his family.
"It is devastating for us and for everyone that has worked so hard on Hamish's and our behalf that it now seems he will not be returning," she says.
The question now is how he died and why?
"Well he's not of an age where natural causes would be an immediate thought for why he might have died and his
r
family certainly do not believe that he was suicidal so there is a risk of foul play," sa
ys Foreign Minister Phil Goff.
Half a world away in the Ivory Coast, Sands rebel captors claimed he died of natural causes, however international observers won't comment until there's a formal autopsy.
But back here, the question that is being asked is did the New Zealand government do enough for Sands.
For now his sister believes they did.
"In particular we would like to recognise their professionalism and compassion in dealing with our family," says Sands-Wearing
Until a few days before his death, Hamish Sands was imprisoned here in the frontline rebel town of Boauke.
But last weekend, he and 34 other prisoners were moved to a jail 232 kilometres north of.
The rebel leadership was convinced Sands was a mercenary hired to assassinate two of its top leaders while his family had always maintained he was more wannabe, than the real thing.
&quo
t;W
e have no clear understanding at this stage what he was doing in the Ivory Coast we still believe that he presented no threat," says San
ds-Wearing.
A close friend painted another picture.
This rubbish about his problem like a mental disability is a load of bull," says Robert Walker.
"He was very onto it, like he was very very clued up."
Walker still has the photos of him and Sands touring Australia together in the early nineties.
"He was always out there, doing it, you know he was motivated, he never kept still. And i just don't believe he would take his own life," says Walker.
There are still hopes of a homecoming of sorts if his body is repatriated.
"If all parties concerned, that is both of course the New Zealand authorities, his family, and the authorities in the north - would agree to that initiative. If we're asked to do something like that, we would consider it very positively," says Kim Gordon-Bates
, the I
vory Coast Rec Cross representative in Abidjan.
We may never really know whether he went for money or adventure, but we do know he was a New Zealander in trouble abroad, and as such did he deserve to l
anguish in an African jail?
Skerryvore,
madkins