Hannah Defoe.
NORTH LONDON TODAY - The death of an aspiring dancer on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday was the result of manslaughter, an inquest has concluded.
The Advertiser has learned that the St Lucian inquest into the death of Hannah Defoe in a luxury resort on the island on July 25 2012 has concluded with a verdict of manslaughter as decided by a jury.
The inquest in Vieux Fort, St. Lucia started in February 2014 and has taken almost a year to hear evidence from all parties concerned with the tragedy.
Hannah was electrocuted and died while swimming in the pool in the luxury resort of Juliette’s Lodge in Vieux Fort in the south of the paradise island.
Giving evidence to the St Lucian inquest via video link in November her aunt Janet Defoe, who was on holiday with her niece at the time, told the inquest jury that Hannah had been swimming in the pool when suddenly she called and sank beneath the water.
She told of repeated attempts to rescue her niece from the pool – but the water was inexplicably live and no one was able to dive in to save her without themselves suffering electric shocks.
Reading from her witness statement she told the jury and Magistrate Robert Innocent: “I ran to the pool and when I got there I saw Hannah’s body stretched out at the bottom of the pool. I jumped into the pool to rescue her.
“As soon as I jumped in I felt a fuzzy feeling over my whole body.”
The British inquest into her death has been repeatedly postponed while the authorities waited for the St Lucian inquest to conclude.
However, now that there is a verdict in the island’s own investigations it is expected that the British inquest can proceed.
Speaking to the Advertiser Hope Defoe, Hannah’s mother, said: “We are very encouraged by this verdict as we were beginning to feel that it was all a charade.
“We are very hopeful that criminal proceedings will follow but have been warned that this could take years.”