The grandfather of the six-year-old girl who was found in an unconscious state in a swampy area some 500ft away from her home says he was in disbelief when he made the discovery.
The little girl, who has been identified as “Shania”, was on Sunday afternoon found submerged in a swamp near her Goed Bananen Land, East Canje Berbice home.
Speaking with this publication on Monday, the grandfather – who made the discovery – said he could not believe what he was seeing.
“I could have drop dead when I see her. This child face was turned to the dirt… We search all over and then we go further down the dam and they tell me that she don’t go so far and I tell them go down and look. When I go down, I walk pass her watching over the next side and when I turn back and watch I see she lie down there on the dirt,” the grandfather said.
The child, who lived with her mother and grandparents, was playing in the yard – waiting for her father to come pick her up. The parents are separated, and the father has visitation rights.
“While she playing all the time, she looking for him. Once she knows she daddy coming for her, she don’t leave the yard, she does be excited,” the grandmother explained.
Upon making the shocking discovery, the grandfather raised an alarm and the police were immediately summoned.
“When I reach by the gate and the police and everybody see that I coming they speed down back and they collect the child from me and jump in the jeep and hustle rush she to the hospital,” the grandfather said.
Up to Monday evening, the child was still in an unconscious state in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The child, according to her grandparents, suffered a laceration to the back of her head along with other head injuries.
The grandfather said that a piece of wood was seen in close proximity of the child.
On Tuesday morning, the child’s mother confessed to brutalising her daughter and dumping her body in the swamp.
The 25-year-old woman told investigators that she had asked her daughter to remain in the yard, so she would not get her clothes dirty since her father was scheduled to pick her up.
However, the child did not listen, so she picked up a 2×2 piece of wood and dealt the child several blows.
She told investigators, in her confession, that the child “don’t hear (obey instructions), so I just clap two lash pon she.”
According to information received, the woman thought her child had died after she fell unconscious as a result of the beating, so she dumped her daughter’s body in the swamp.
When this publication visited the family today, the grandparents were not at home.
The mother remains in police custody as investigations continue.
