-police question pastor
An autopsy yesterday failed to determine the cause of Sangeeta Persaud’s death and as police questioned the pastor who did an “exorcism” hours before the girl died on Sunday, members of his congregation defended him and said the accusations stem from a religious conflict in the community.
Police opened an investigation yesterday into the 14-year-old girl’s death and took statements from her grandmother, Chaitranie Ramotar, the pastor and members of the Christ Ambassadors Church. An autopsy done yesterday by Dr. Nehaul Singh was “inconclusive”, the police said in a brief statement. Persaud died at the West Demerara Regional Hospital on Sunday, hours after being admitted. Earlier that day, saying she was demon- possessed, a pastor and several church members “treated” the teen for hours by pounding her stomach until she bled, her grandmother said.
Ramotar had told Stabroek News that while they were having breakfast at about 7:30am on Sunday; her granddaughter grabbed her and began shaking. This continued and at 8am, the pastor of the Church turned up and said the girl was “possessed by a demon” and attempted to “cast it out”. His efforts did not have any effect on the girl and at 11 am, the girl was taken to the church. He was joined by his wife, another member of the church and the man’s wife, Persaud’s mother and grandmother. The men and their wives then began to pound her granddaughter’s stomach to get the demon out, Ramotar had said. She had told this newspaper that they also massaged the girl’s privates and squeezed her neck and gave her lime and salt and “anointed oil” to drink. The girl later began to bleed through her privates and at 6 pm, she was cleaned and taken to the hospital, Ramotar had related. Persaud died at 10 pm. Residents, speaking with this newspaper on Tuesday, had called on police to investigate.
There is obvious tension in the Canal Number One, West Bank Demerara community between church members and some residents. Relatives and some residents watched as a Stabroek News reporter spoke with members of the small church, which is located in a resident’s yard. They signalled that they also wanted to speak with the reporter.
Several women preparing the church for services defended the pastor and blamed a religious conflict for the accusations being made against him. “Nothing what people saying is true. God is in control”, said one woman. “She was feeling sick and Pastor (name) went and pray but she didn’t get deliver there”, another added. One said that when Persaud had been brought to the church, her body was “soft” and she was behaving badly. While in the church, she slept, the woman said. The women declined to give their names. They said after the girl was not “delivered” at the church, she was taken to the hospital. They could not say why she was only taken to the hospital long after the “treatment” had failed.
“Everybody feel discouraged. We feel sad for the girl that died. It hurt me because is like my own daughter die”, one woman said. She questioned how the pastor could beat somebody in the church, asserting that this is a lie. The woman said it is a Christian church, Pentecostal, and the pastor was trained through the Assemblies of God denomination. Responding to accusations that the pastor held sessions at least twice to “take out demons”, the woman said they have services on Sunday, Wednesday evening and Friday evening. She said the congregation has 40 members.
During services, the woman said, there is normally an “altar call” during which everyone who feels a need for prayer can go to the altar. “When he lay his hand on them, they does get afflict with demon.
When the Man of God lay his hand on them, the demons manifest themselves”, said the woman. “When you got a sick or got a feeling when you go before God, you does cry out”, she added. The woman denied that lime and salt and “anointed oil” are used. “He don’t really use no kind of thing to cast out jumbie. He use the power of God through prayer”, she said, adding they are hurt about the situation.
According to the woman, because of the pastor’s ethnicity, he is not liked by some members of the community. They said that the residents want the church to close down. But they are standing by their pastor, the women said. He helps his congregation, they asserted. “He never ask we for money or gas for he car”, one woman said, with the others agreeing. “I love he from the dust he walk on”, added a middle-aged woman. “You don’t have to spend a cent to come in this building to get lil healing”, another said.
An elderly woman told this newspaper that one of her daughters was sick for a long time and the pastor prayed for her and she was healed. “Christian nah beat nobody. They ah pray for people”, one woman asserted. They pointed out that Persaud’s mother and grandmother were present during the “exorcism”. They said that they knew Persaud as she grew up in the community. “She was a very good child”, one said.
Meantime, at Ramotar’s home, residents gathered. One relative, noting that the post-mortem examination was inconclusive, said that samples were taken for further testing. The residents said they want justice and called for the Ministry of Human Services to investigate. “Me nah want nobody pickney fall in that situation”, said a relative.
Persaud called ‘Sheena’ had celebrated her birthday on March 15. She will be buried today.
