Baby
drowns in bucket of water
An
11-month-old-boy, who was just beginning to take his first steps, perished
when he fell head first into a five-gallon bucket of water.
The shocking incident occurred yesterday at
Django Town, Mon Repos at around 17:40 hrs. John Mohamed was pronounced dead
on arrival at the Georgetown Hospital, where he was taken after his mother
pulled his lifeless body from the bucket of water. According to reports, the
baby was left in the car of a young teenaged relative while his mother and
stepfather went out.
The relative Dhanwantie told Kaieteur News that she
left little John on his bed while she went into the yard to wash some wares.
“I
check pon he two times. I mek sure dat I put he back pon de bed when he de
come off,” she said.
She stated that when she was finished washing the
wares she headed for the stairs with the intention of making another check on
John who was described as a frisky baby. But her attention was distracted when
she saw the baby’s mother approaching in the distance.
“I put down de
wares and go to she. Den when she go upstairs, she start fuh scream,”
Dhanwantie recalled. Little John was discovered head down in a bucket of
water, which the family placed on the platform.
Dhanwantie believes that
‘Little John’ became restless after being left unattended and ventured
towards the back door where the bucket was. She said his horror-stricken
mother took him out and placed him on the bed while ‘screaming her head off’.
Several neighbours were alerted and they went over to see what assistance they
could give. One neighbour said that he heard the screaming, but at first
thought that it was another fight in the area.
“Dem people dis does fight
steady so me thought was de same thing. Then me girl seh is nah fight is de
neighbour pickney dead,” the man told Kaieteur News.
Being a policeman,
he quickly contacted the Beterverwagting police station before calling the
baby’s stepfather, Cuban national Gilberto Matos.
Matos said he was at
work when he got a message that the child was dead.
The distraught man
offered no other comment on the tragic incident.
The police have taken
statements from the baby’s relatives and are continuing their
investigations.
Thursday June 24, 2004