Jermaine Defoe’s Sister Was Electrocuted – Inquest Rules
An England footballer’s sister who was electrocuted in a Caribbean hotel swimming pool died as a result of manslaughter, an inquest has concluded.
Hannah Defoe, 20, was staying at Juliette’s Lodge hotel, St Lucia, in July 2012 when the tragedy happened.
Miss Defoe, a sister of former Tottenham Hotspur striker Jermain Defoe, who now PLAYS for Toronto FC in Canada, had dived into the pool – but then suddenly called out and disappeared beneath the water.
The inquest in St Lucia heard that it was not known how the water had become live but nobody was able to enter the pool to save Miss Defoe without being electrocuted themselves.
Giving evidence to the inquest via video link in November, her aunt Janet Defoe, who was on holiday with her niece at the time, told the inquest jury that Hannah had been swimming in the pool when suddenly she called and sank beneath the water.
She told of repeated attempts to rescue her niece from the pool – but the water was inexplicably live and no one was able to enter it to save her without themselves suffering electric shocks.
Reading from her witness statement she told the jury and Magistrate Robert Innocent: ‘I ran to the pool and when I got there I saw Hannah’s body STRETCHED out at the bottom of the pool. I jumped into the pool to rescue her.
‘As soon as I jumped in I felt a fuzzy feeling over my whole body.’
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