-residents demand probe
Saying she was demon possessed, a pastor and several church members on Sunday “treated” a 14-year-old girl for hours by pounding her stomach until she bled. The teen died hours later at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
Sangeeta Persaud called ‘Sheena’ had celebrated her birthday a few days ago, angry residents who gathered at her Canal Number Two, West Bank Demerara home yesterday, recalled. They demanded an investigation into her death saying the police have shown little interest. An autopsy is scheduled for today.
Persaud lived with her grandmother; Chaitranie Ramotar called ‘Leila’ in a little one-room home at Lot 26 Canal Number Two. Ramotar said she looked after Persaud since the girl was nine years old.
On Sunday, she said, they were having breakfast when Persaud suddenly put down her cup of tea and grabbed her. “She ah skin she eye and ah do so”, Ramotar said, shaking herself. Ramotar said she asked her granddaughter what was wrong with her, querying if her stomach or head was hurting but the girl, who had jumped on the bed, said no. This was at about 7:30 am.
She gave Persaud the tea and the girl drank it. However, after doing so Persaud began shaking again. “She jerk up the whole house”, Ramotar said. The girl then began vomiting and not knowing what was wrong with her granddaughter, Ramotar rubbed Limacol on her. “Me call pon she. Me tell she me never see you do so. Me ask if she catch fits”, recalled Ramotar. Neigh-bours heard the commotion and rushed over. Persaud was placed on the floor with a pillow and sheets, with her grandmother unsure if she was having a seizure.
At 8am, the pastor for the Christ Ambassadors Church, located a short distance away, turned up. “He sey the girl demon possess make she behave so”, Ramotar recalled.
She said that the man spent three hours in the house “teking out jumbie from the girl”. At 11 am, saying that the church was a better place to “take out the demon”, the girl was taken there by the Pastor, Ramotar said.
Sunday service was over at this time and the pastor was joined by his wife and another “brother” and the man’s wife. The mother of the teen had also turned up. They locked the church and the men and women held the girl’s stomach and squeezed and pounded, Ramotar, who had gone with them, said. “How they ah ramp the girl belly to tek out the jumbie”.
Ramotar told this newspaper that lime and salt and “anointed oil” were forced down the girl’s throat. According to her, the “brother”, who she named, and his wife also placed their hands on the teen’s private parts and pounded, in their efforts to “take out the demon”. She said they also squeezed the girl’s neck.
When she began to say something to her daughter, Persaud’s mother, the woman told her to go home, Ramotar said. She recalled that the pastor also told her to go home and get something to eat. “Me couldn’t say nothing”, Ramotar added. She said that with all the pounding, the girl began to bleed through her privates. “Cold and slime” also trickled from the teen’s mouth.
At 6pm, the girl was washed and the pastor took her to the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH). She died at 10 pm that night.
Neighbours said they heard groaning in the locked church but did not call police at the time because they didn’t know “it was so serious”. “By the time, they finish with the child, she ah been heavy, heavy”, one said. The mother of the teen reported her daughter’s death to the Wales Police Station and was questioned then sent home. Several neighbours said after the incident, they had also called the police but no one turned up.
The angry women called for a police investigation. They told this newspaper that the pastor has been preaching at the church for over a year now and held sessions twice or thrice weekly to “take out demons”.
Ramotar said she has attended the church for 20 years and never had such an experience. The residents said they hope the findings of the autopsy will force the police to investigate.
Ramotar said her granddaughter had suffered from a constant cold and took medication.
She said three weeks ago, she took the girl to the WDRH for medication and an x-ray was also done, and Persaud was given medication. “Me mine she from nine years and me never know she do any odd thing”, Ramotar said.
