Second autopsy reveals injuries to Harmon Chellen’s left temple, reports Mauritian newspaper

Harmon Chellen - Former Director of the Mauritius Tourism Academy (Facebook)

(Seychelles News Agency) - The Mauritian authorities have performed a second autopsy on the body of the former Director of the Mauritius Tourism Academy, Harmon Chellen, who died in Seychelles on Monday August 18.

This was done on Friday after Chellen’s body was repatriated to Mauritius.

According to an article published yesterday in Mauritian newspaper, ‘Le Mauricien’ the autopsy revealed that Harmon Chellen had sustained injuries to his left temple, which it says confirms the theory of "suspected foul play.”

Post mortem results released by the Seychelles police had not revealed these injuries.

A police statement issued Friday afternoon read “postmortem carried out yesterday afternoon on the body of Mr Harmon Chellen showed that he died of asphyxia conducive to drowning.”

The body of the 52 year old Director of the Mauritius Tourism Academy known as ‘Ecole Hoteliere Sir Gaetan Duval’ was found floating in the vicinity of L’Islette island at Port Glaud, western district of the main island of Mahé in the afternoon of Monday August 18.

The incident happened while the police was starting to investigate a sexual assault case reported earlier in the day of which he was named as suspect.

The Seychelles police confirmed on Tuesday that the female worker who made the report is a Malagasy national.

The incident reportedly happened the previous night (Sunday) at the Constance Ephelia Resort at Port Launay where Chellen was staying.

The Chellen family’s lawyer Veda Baloomoody flew to the Indian Ocean archipelago on Wednesday to find out more about what exactly happened to the Mauritian national and he is quoted by ‘Le Mauricien’ as saying that some things were not clear.

"But the most controversial elements in this case remain that the personal effects of the former director of the Mauritius Tourism Academy, have not been recovered by the police. There are questions about what might have been become of the shirt and jacket and also the shoes that he was wearing when he was escorted from his room at Constance Ephelia by police at 9.30am on Monday morning,” reads the article.

According to the newspaper "several sources confirm that when the Seychellois fisherman had discovered the body of Harmon Chellen in the sea at Port Glaud, he was shirtless with socks on his feet. However, upon returning to Mauritius yesterday afternoon, the relatives of the victim realized that these objects, which are proving to be crucial exhibits in such an investigation, cannot be found. Forensic and DNA analysis of these items could have provided investigators with some lead."

In its statement revealing the post mortem results on Friday, the Seychelles police said an active investigation is ongoing adding that it will not comment further on the case “until such time as an update is ready.”