Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said foul play should not be ruled out as far as the search for 26-year-old French national, Marion Hermier is concerned.
His comments came while addressing a press briefing recently.
Rescue teams are in search of the young lady who was reported missing after going on a hike on the Waitukubuli National Trail, from Scotts Head in the south to Capuchin in the north.
It was also reported that Hermier had arrived in Dominica on board a French-registered vessel on February 4, 2023, and was not on the vessel when it left the island five days later.
“I think that while we are making efforts to search for the young lady here, it is difficult to search for her if we don’t know the particular area she went into hiking and I don’t think we should rule out foul play…,” Prime Minister Skerrit said.
He continued, “So I think that this yacht and the yacht captain who are now in Guadeloupe I’ve been told, or heading to Europe, should be held by the French authorities to give answers as to where the crew member has gone.”
However, the Prime Minister said his government is collaborating as it has always done on these matters on a daily basis and there has been communication throughout the last several days with the French authorities, “and whatever support we have to provide, it’s very clear Dominica [has] been providing that support.”
“We do hope and pray that she is safe somewhere and that she could be located whether in Dominica or Guadeloupe,” Skerrit stated.
Meantime, speaking on state-owned DBS Radio on Monday, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Davidson Valarie, said that rescue teams, including those from the police and fire brigade, are searching the trail for the French national, but with little success.
Here is a list of people to contact if you have information or want to volunteer for the search:
-Benjamin Barthelemi +32498778777 (who is searching on-site).
-Hervé Nizard at the Roseau Consulate in Dominica
-Camille Boyer at the French embassy
-local police
-her sister Maya Hermier: +33778071916
-her friend in Dominica Laura Neyer +590690977718
The lady came to Dominica for ADVENTURE,not to have people follow her on the trail.If she wanted she would have hired a tour guide or somebody who know the trail.Police have searched for people ,who got lost in the bushes all the time .That BS about upkeep,and people on trail is Just BS.People go missing all the time,including Dominicans.Skerrit was briefed on the matter,if those UWP bums know what that is.
I hope they find her safe and sound and in good spirit. As they say 60 million french men could not be wrong.
Hello and good afternoon my people. First , I hope they find this lady either in Dominica or wherever else she might be. We can’t blame the Prime Minister for this missing lady rather he should have said that we are concerned and we are using all our investigative resources in locating her. I find it troubling that they would allow this vessel to leave our jurisdiction without interviewing everyone onboard the vessel and complicating the investigation by not impounding the vessel. Did they track her cellphone because it’s my understanding that she had a Tile in her luggage and her cellphone would ping the Tile every fifteen seconds therefore they should be able to find her geo location. Also did they used any cadaver trained dog/dogs to search outside of the complete trail because if she was on the trail and she fell then they could miss her exact location. I did part of this trail before and it’s something one shouldn’t do by themselves.
There we go, not only has he a certificate in false accounting but he also seem to hold a certificate in criminology. Jack of all trades, master of absolutely none. Dominica deserves much much better!
Maybe HIM that ‘played foul’. He seems to know plenty about the case.
If the government put more effort into maintaining and professionally managing all its hiking trails – not just WNT – Dominica would enjoy the benefit of world class and SAFER hiking.
This trail will now become “The Jericho Road.” A trail to kill and kidnap. We have many unemployed foreigners on the Island and we know nothing about these people’s past. We are really in a dangerous time for the past 22 years. We have never seen anything like this in our country. Skeritt Must Go.
“it is difficult to search for her if we don’t know the particular area she went into hiking and I don’t think we should rule out foul play…,”
After listening to the PM the song of Dice that was so often sung during February 4, into carnival day comes to mind …nobody sees and nobody knows. It’s another missing young lady and PM just confirmed nobody knows etc.
Dominica these days have clearly become a Nobody sees nobody knows state and members of the opposition especially Lennox Linton should be very careful, since a former government minister who is now adviser to all government ministers ,is on record calling for the disappearance of the then opposition leader. So people ought to be very careful on island because seems like people can just disappear and nobody sees nobody knows as was the case of Kenisha Ettienne and the only person that could help find her was targeted and killed by the police as if it’s a movie
Skerrit is behaving like he knows something that nobody seems to know about and to me the local police sr the French police should call him in to help them with the investigation.
While nothing should be ruled out in an investigation like this, Dominica should take a lot of blame for this missing young lady. Look PM told us that she came on a yacht to Dominica but did leave on the yacht. I have a problem with that right there. As a visitor was she not supposed to declare to the authorities how long she was going to be here for, place of residence on island etc?
Another disturbing thing we heard is she went on a trail. Really? If so how what do we have in place to protect people on this long and dangerous trail? Shouldn’t we have time trail is opened , check points to know who is on the trail, and security every two miles or so to ensure people are safe so if a person didn’t make it from point A to B the authorities could be alerted? To me that sounds like a dangerous death trail…
There is nothing wrong with the trail. It is internationally known that you do not go to the trails on your own but with a tour guide. Dominica cannot babysit tourists,
@Frank N Stein
Yes, there is something wrong, which is upkeeping the trail.
She may have been kidnapped by someone or people with a vehicle which had dark tinted windows. Dominica has gone to the Dogs and Gangs for the past 22 years. Don’t steal your neighbors cat and then help them look for it. YOU ARE THE CULPRIT. Sacres sa vou yeh. Clean up the blasted country; that’s your darn job.
But PM seems to know a lot about this issue man. First thing he said is the taught captain should be held by the French authorities to give answers as to where the crew member has gone.”and now he is suggesting that fowl play should not be ruled out is disturbing to me.
First, I thought she was a passenger on the Yaught but pM says she was a crew member.
Second. Shouldn’t the authorities here prevent the yaught from living when they saw a crew member was missing?
Third. PM, nothing should be ruled out when a person is missing. Seems to me that Dominica has a lot of questions to answer.
Is the PM the police? Why is he making such comments?
Yes as the Prime Minister, especially where a foreigner national is involved, it’s prudent that he make general statements on the matter. Show concern and assure the public and the relatives that all available resources are being exhausted.
But speculative and suggestive comments should be left to law enforcement. The political arm of government need to discipline themselves and allow the police to their job free of interference and not make things seem messy.
Well skerrit…….they don’t have to listen to you……they have trained people to deal with situations like these.
You never ordered for de boat captain in de choksi affair to be arrested eh……your double standards is like a forked tongue
I really hope this woman is found safe
When someone goes missing nothing should be ruled out. Foul play, suicide, physical incapacitation should be considered.
Why is Roosevelt so adamant about the detention of the captain of the yacht the missing young lady arrived on, but, to this day, stubbornly refuses to insist on the same for the captain of the boat that brought Choski to Dominica?
I hope the lady is found alive and well. I also suggest that the relevant authorities employ people to constantly upkeep the trails; implement compulsory registration before going hiking using the designated trails; have all hikers use some sort of communication device. This should certainly help if difficulties arise along the way.
We are just too lax in terms of safety in Dominica. Our fishermen, construction workers, road users, etcetera, should give much more attention to safety measures.