ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA APRIL 30TH -A prominent Grenadian attorney is calling on Prime Minister and National Security Minister Dickon Mitchell to personally intervene and explain why a mandatory coroner’s inquest has not been initiated into the suspicious death of former senator Neilon Franklyn — warning that the failure to act may itself constitute a criminal offense.

Attorney Cajeton Hood, speaking in an exclusive interview with broadcaster Shelton Scott, said he was retained by the Franklyn family and found no evidence that any formal inquest had been conducted.

“There has not been any official inquest into the death of former senator Franklyn,” Hood stated flatly.

Hood argued that Grenada’s Coroners Act leaves no room for discretion. Under the law, he said, once a death occurs under suspicious circumstances, the investigating officer is legally obligated to immediately notify the coroner — not the Commissioner of Police — who must then take charge of the inquiry.

“Once the coroner’s conditions are met, the coroner must take charge,” Hood said. “It is the coroner’s duty under the law to take charge of the situation. The police must conduct an inquiry under the supervision of the coroner, not the commissioner of police.”

He warned that the Chief Magistrate, who serves as coroner for St. George’s, could face criminal charges filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions for failing to fulfill that obligation. Hood confirmed he wrote to the Chief Magistrate on the family’s behalf, and she responded that no police officer ever reported Franklyn’s death to her — a response Hood characterized as evidence of serious police negligence.

Hood also raised pointed questions about whether the state ever commissioned an autopsy. “As far as I am concerned, the autopsy was commissioned and paid for by the family of the deceased,” he said. “I am not aware that the state ever commissioned an autopsy on his body.”

He directed his sharpest criticism at Prime Minister Mitchell, noting that as a lawyer, Mitchell cannot claim ignorance of the law’s requirements.

“He is a lawyer. He ought to know the law. This is one person who can’t get away by saying I didn’t know,” Hood said. “As minister of National Security, you are to step up to the plate and call the Commissioner of Police in and inquire why no report was made to the coroner.”

Franklyn, 28, made history as one of Grenada’s youngest senators when appointed to the Upper House in 2022. He died at the General Hospital under circumstances that quickly drew public alarm. A subsequent autopsy conducted by Trinidad-based pathologist Professor Hubert Daisley reportedly found evidence of lethal substances in Franklyn’s organs, triggering broad indignation and public demands for justice across Grenada.

“Follow the law,” Hood said. “Why was no inquest commissioned by the state of Grenada?”