UPDATE: Murder charge after patient killed in Grenada hospital

A man has been charged with murder following the death of a patient at Mount Gay Psychiatric Hospital.

Gabriel Alleyne, 27 and of Mount Parnassus, St George, is accused of killing 49-year-old Anthony Alexander in the early hours of last Saturday.

Mr Alexander was being held in the Rathdune Unit prior to his death, and WIC News understands that he was strangled.

Alleyne was remanded in custody in Richmond Hill Prison.

This is his second brush with the law, after being charged with wounding following an incident earlier this month that left a pastor nursing a stab wound.

Both charges will be be heard in court next month.

Health ministry ‘stands with family’

On Monday senior officials from the Ministry of Health met with a member of Mr Alexander’s family.

Permanent Secretary Pauline Peters was accompanied by Chief Medical Officer Dr George Mitchell, Director of Hospital Services Ester Henry-Fleary, Director of Medical Services, Dr Kester Dragon, Chief Health Planner Clement Gabriel and Information Officer Keville Frederick to offer support and plan the way forward.

“Let me take this opportunity again on behalf of our Minister and all of us to offer our sincere condolences to you and your entire family", Peters said.

The meeting was described as an emotional outpouring of support and expressions of sympathy as the family member listened to a summary of the pathology report and the reasons for the ministry’s swift action upon receiving the news of the incident.

Members of the ministry’s senior management team met with the staff of the Mount Gay hospital yesterday in an attempt to address any issues and update the staff on the measures that are and would be taken in their best interest as well as that of the other patients.

Mount Gay Psychiatric Hospital was built in the mid-1980s, replacing an older facility at Richmond Hill that was destroyed during the US-led intervention during October 1983.

According to the Ministry of Health website, the institution was built “to accommodate patients suffering from mental illness and as the hub of the mental health services in Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.”