The body of nine-year-old Zamar Chester was on Thursday retrieved from the Demerara River, one day after he was discovered missing.
Chester was a student of the Watooka Primary School in Linden, Region Ten. He had only recently moved to Linden. Before, Chester was living on the Essequibo Coast and had attended the CV Nunes Primary School.
According to the child’s mother, Leisa Chester, her son had returned home from school on Wednesday afternoon but shortly after, he disappeared.
The woman said she did not become alarmed, as her son would usually play pranks on her and go into hiding.
However, after some time had passed and she did not see her son, the woman became worried.
“I sent his brother to call him because [I] was about to iron their clothes for school and my clothes for work and I didn’t see him come back, I see his brother come back,” the woman related.
The family, who lives near a landing, has a small boat docked there.
According to the mother, her father-in-law subsequently appeared and inquired about the whereabouts of the nine-year-old.
“I searched the house, I didn’t see Zamar… I decided to tell him (the father-in-law) that I [am] not finding the boy…,” the woman related.
Shortly after, the woman said her brother-in-law stopped by and asked why the boat was turned over in the river.
“My brother-in-law said that he swam out to go and get the boat and it look like Zamar fall out of the boat. Right way, we called out the neighbours and they started searching and we didn’t find he…
“…when I see his little brother passed, I asked him where is Zamar and he told me Zamar had jumped in the river. He came in the yard and didn’t tell me his brother jumped in the river until I asked,” the mother said.
The woman said after hours of searching, her son’s lifeless body floated ashore on Thursday afternoon. She said a postmortem was conducted on Friday and the results showed that her son died of drowning.
