Without hesitation, she threw herself into the irrigation canal when she saw her friend being washed away, but Jemmy Armel, née Speville, 30, who was working as a waitress at Ocean Basket in Bagatelle, stayed there. Her friend Mary Jane Old, 27, was saved. The two friends had gone to the edge of the irrigation canal on Branch Road, Mount Ida to spend the afternoon of Tuesday, December 7, but the outing turned tragic. The lifeless body of Jemmy Armel was found in the early hours of Wednesday morning, December 8, in the canal at Gaulette Serrée, St Julien.
In Petit-Verger, Saint Pierre where Jemmy Armel lived, there is consternation. His relatives did not close their eyes during the evening of Tuesday December 7. The search was underway by police officers from the police station of Camp de Masque, those of the Divisional Supporting Unit (DSU) and elements of the Mauritian Police Intervention Group (GIPM) as soon as the alert was given in the early evening of December 7.
Mary-Jane Old, a resident of Mont Ida, reported her friend missing in the irrigation canal. In her statement, she explained that she and her friend had gone there to relax and drink alcoholic beverages. At some point, she fell into the canal and was swept away. Her friend, Jemmy Armel, jumped into the water to rescue her, but they were both swept away. Mary-Jane Old was able to get out of the water, but Jemmy Armel disappeared.
Distraught, Mary-Jane Old immediately had to go to her home in Mount Ida and informed her brother of the situation. Both returned to the edge of the irrigation canal to try to find Jemmy Armel, but to no avail. The police of Camp de Masque, who were alerted, immediately launched a search operation with police officers from the DSU of Moka and men from the GIPM. It was at 1:50 am on Wednesday morning, December 8, that the body of Jemmy Armel was found hanging from a grate in the canal at Gaulette Serrée, St-Julien. His clothes were torn off.
The body of this thirty year old woman was transported to the morgue of the Dr. Bruno Cheong Hospital in Flacq before being transferred to that of the Dr. A.G. Jeetoo Hospital in Port-Louis. Jeetoo Hospital, Port-Louis for an autopsy. The autopsy, performed by Dr. Sudesh Kumar Gungadin, head of the forensic department of the police, attributed the death to asphyxiation due to drowning.
