The late Dimitri Pappas

Legal minds in the Cayman Islands and in Bermuda have labelled a Coroner's Inquest-delay of that duration "very strange."

Dimitri Pappas' parents, Sue Kongsli and Jack Pappas, said they are angry.

"People (police officers) assigned to the case have been changed umpteen times; we have been told that the fellow who did the autopsy has retired and is off the island (Bermuda); we can't get any consistent clear communication out of the Bermuda Police: and, we are now more convinced than ever that our son did not commit suicide, but was murdered."

One legal expert in Cayman has said the case warrants attention.

"Given the facts, as they are known so far, and, the circumstances surrounding the case - now coupled with the extensive delay - I would have thought that the case, by now, would be seen as a matter warranting the attention of the Attorney General in Bermuda," he said.

Four weeks after Dimitri Pappas' body was discovered, the Bermuda police were labelling the death a suicide, without the benefit of a full investigation.

When Cayman Net News spoke with Bermuda Police in the immediate aftermath of the death, Inspector Philip Taylor, who was at that time Bermuda's Coroner's Officer, said that the case was considered a suicide, "based on the circumstances surrounding the finding of the body."

However, Dimitri's family and a wide circle of friends called the 37-year-old's death murder.

For them Dimitri's broken arm injury that would still have at least another three weeks to heal is an important factor, making it impossible to envisage how Dimitri tied himself to a clothes bar all alone.

The fact that the closet was lower in height than Dimitri's 5 feet 11 inches, and the appointments he made with friends here in Cayman for 21 and 22 July, are other factors going against the suicide verdict.

For the deceased's father, Jack Pappas, these factors, "showed his state of mind; they showed that he was forward thinking and planning, which is how he usually is."

Now over a year - and some US$50,000 or more in related expenses and bills - later, Pappas' parents have only confirmation that confusion exists in Bermuda surrounding their son's case.

First proof of what the Pappas' call confusion is that they were communicated with a month ago and told that the Coroner's Inquest for Dimitri's death was scheduled for 8 August 2006. Close to that date they were told that the hearing was postponed.

When Cayman Net News spoke with Dwayne Caines - Public and Media Relations Manager for the Bermuda Police Service - in June and asked what was happening with the case he said he needed time to research the matter because he had not heard anything about the case for some time.

As Caines' name has been one of the only consistent ones related to the case from the beginning, Dimitri Pappas' parents are curious as to why he would not have known that the investigation had developed to the point where a Coroner's Inquest was being scheduled for some five weeks after that date in June.

Furthermore, when Pappas' parents spoke with Cayman Net News a few days ago, they said they had not been given a new date for the Inquest and, "Bermuda has no idea when it will be held."

When Cayman Net News contacted Caines' Department in the Bermuda Police Service again on 28 August 2006, Robin Simmons - Public & Media Relations Assistant in the Bermuda Police Service - confirmed the uncertainty surrounding a date.

"In relation to your inquiry into the Pappas case, I can now release the following statement: "The matter is in the hands of the Coroner's Officer and a date for the public inquest is to be set," he said.

In the process of trying to unearth information surrounding the investigation into Pappas' death and also the delay of the Coroner's Inquest, one person close to the Bermuda Police Service, who refused to be named spoke with Cayman Net News.

"There is mismatch of information surrounding this case," the anonymous person said.

According to one legal professional an inquest must be held when the coroner is informed that there is reasonable cause to suspect that the deceased died a violent or unnatural death, or a sudden death of which the cause is unknown or if the deceased died in prison or in such circumstances as to require an inquest.

"There is no general discretion for the coroner to hold an inquest and, conversely, the coroner has no discretion not to hold an inquest if one of the conditions is satisfied," this attorney explained.

When Caines spoke with Net News in September 2005, he said, the investigation was in an advanced stage.

However now, according to the Pappas family,  the investigation seems stalled as they can't get any information.

When Cayman Net News spoke with a Bermudian source in August 2005, the estimation was that there would be no reason to delay the Coroner's Inquest beyond January 2006.

"Based on the usual time taken between the handing over of pathology reports to the Coroner and the completion of inquests, it is anticipated that it will be the end of the year (2005), or even early 2006, before a final decision is made," he had said.