Special UK team to review child’s death on the Brac

| 22/05/2023 | 19 Comments
Dr Russell Wate QPM, Cayman News Service
Dr Russell Wate QPM

(CNS): The RCIPS has commissioned a specialist UK team to review the mysterious death of two-year-old Alissady Azalea Powell last July on Cayman Brac. Over the last ten months, the police have said very little about what they believe happened to the child. But Police Commissioner Derek Byrne has now drafted an independent team, headed by a former British expert detective, to review the case.

“The police are aware of the public interest in this tragic case, none more so than in Cayman Brac,” he said. “At a recent community meeting I attended there, they reiterated their desire for answers in this case. It is important we do everything we can to aid this investigation and bringing in this specialist team is an important next step.”

An internal review of the inquiry was recently completed, but since then the police have offered very little information to the public about what they believe may have happened.

CNS asked the RCIPS about the conclusions of the internal review and the main findings of the autopsy, including the cause of death and whether or not the child had been injured in any way before she died. We have asked if the police suspect that the child was, as her family believe, the victim of foul play.

However, a spokesperson told us that, as the case is still an open file with the coroner’s office and the RCIPS, no comment can be made on any findings. “No further comment will be made while the inquest and the independent specialist teams review of the case are underway,” the police stated.

The child’s mother, Yvane Dixon-Powell, contends that her little girl was murdered and has posted her suspicions on social media on a number of occasions. The police have not commented on those suspicions. The family also invested in a private investigator, whose findings were shared with the RCIPS.

Alissady’s body was found on the ironshore on South Side East on Cayman Brac, more than one and a half miles from her home, around four hours after her mother reported her missing very early on the morning of 26 July.

No arrests have been made in relation to the case to date.

Former UK Detective Chief Superintendent Dr Russell Wate QPM, an experienced murder and child death expert, will now head up a team that includes a child forensic psychologist and a forensic pathologist, who will work alongside the RCIPS officers on the case. Wate is expected to arrive on Grand Cayman next Monday before travelling to Cayman Brac. 

The police said that the family of Alissady have been informed of the independent review and the arrival of the specialist team.


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Category: Crime, Police

Comments (19)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    The mother has more patience than me, the whole of Cayman would never sleep if this were my child.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Far too little and far too late. Forensic opportunities. Gone. Digital forensic opportunities. Gone. Potential witness accounts. Tainted at the very least. Scene preservation. Forget it. This poor girl will NEVER see justice. Hang your heads in shame RCIPS.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    How much are we paying for this retiree murder book author to junket to the Brac? It’s like the RCIPS are creating reason for a mistrial. If they are this starved for insight, they might have brought an active Met or Scotland Yard officer. Instead we get Angela Lansbury.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Did you even bother to check his CV? He got into writing fiction after a long career as a specialist in investigating child abuse and murders, numbnuts. You would struggle to find a more qualified person to lead an investigation into a suspicious death of a child.

  4. Optimistic Brac Resident says:

    This will lead to or highlight the terrible Drug Situation in the Brac ! Thus like other suspicious deaths will go absolute nowhere ! We had good law enforcement in late nineties but we’re being obstructed and frustrate by political and govt forces who got their way and close the door on Justice here in the Brac till Now Hopefully we will finally get something done this time around.

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  5. Cayman Repeat situation says:

    Anon 250pm I am really scratching my head if you have read all the recent promotions at the RCIPS and the hooopla around it you would be perplexed as to why we now have to bring yet another team to investigate a single unsolved death of a precious child to these islands..Especially now in light of those now being promoted to top positions and are supposed to have all these specialised skills which would enable them to take over the reigns of the RCIPS. This doesn’t not bode well for these islands and it appears that these handpicked political candidates slated to lead our various law enforcement and govt leadership positions are just as incompetent and corrupt as their political masters and govt bosses. This is starting to look like the last situation we found ourselves in where the last joker created such a mess of things we had to rely on the UK to once again come in to correct it and has in fact led to the terrifying dynamic we now see playing out in the RCIPS Prison Service and CBC of recruiting personnel from third world jurisdictions with third world problems .

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  6. Anonymous says:

    All they can do is review the evidence and forensics already collected as any new chain of evidence forensics is long gone…

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  7. Anonymous says:

    rcips are an expensive, incompetent joke.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    RCIPS/DETECTIVES – TAKE NOTES!!!!!!!!!!! AND LEARN!!!!!!!!!!!! SO YOU TOO CAN DO THESE YOURSELVES!!!!!!!!!!

    (Granted we do never want this to happen but in case at least you will be prepared to handle accordingly instead of waiting so long to pass the torch)

    I hope this UK team bring justice for the people. Fight the good fight!!!

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    • A Caymanian says:

      There has been an incredible degree of incompetence in the RCiP and in particular during the now ToP commanders tenure.

      It is not a good thing for these Islands to be paying Top Dollar and obtaining poor crime fighting results. Can we hear from our so called Representatives on this, what are they doing or saying to ensure that the country is safe, secure and obtaining value for the money we are spending on seemingly vacationers filling the role of police.

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  9. Anonymous says:

    Good. Will restore confidence that it is being dealt with properly,versus the silence to date.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    So basically what we’re hearing is that the RCIPS have no idea what happened, don’t have the skills to investigate the death and have done little for 10 months. Then when there’s public pressure to actually do something they call in a team from the UK. – This is completely inept. If you know you can’t handle an investigation, then call in support immediately, don’t wait 10 months hoping everyone will forget about it and then bring in an external team when the evidence is likely diminished. Sheer incompetency, the Commissioner needs to go.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    Hopefully people don’t just shut up shop and adopt the “no snitching” policy we see so commonly on these Islands.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    Hopefully, they’ll look into all of the other unsolved cases in Cayman Brac as well.

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