Dear Editor,
Every day we are more grieved by the way the tragedy of 14-year-old Sangeeta Persaud’s death is being treated.
What we see playing out seems to us like fending and proving rather than an attempt to get to the root cause of the child’s death. No institution is showing any kind of accountability for this child. On one side there is the allegation that she died as a result of a beating inflicted on her as part of an exorcism exercise to get out the supposed demon that had possessed her. On the other side is the denial that there was any beating but reiteration of the allegation that the child had spirits: the Pastor involved is reported to have said, “I just responded as a Pastor of the church… Ungodly people would not understand certain things like driving out spirits” (Stabroek News, Monday April 5).
Taking the matter over (why?), Mr Juan Edghill, Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission, reportedly said that to his knowledge “nothing criminal occurred” and that he found that “it was a genuine case of people who are practising Christians, who would have experienced the power of God and would have taken their daughter to be prayed for because she was having unusual manifestations.” (Kaieteur News, April 10). We will not comment on Dr Prem Misir’s letter, nor on what amounts to a religious/racial debate between him and Mr Edghill. All we ask is, where is the justice that Sangeeta deserves in all of this? Where?
Our hope that the post- mortem examination (PME) would have given us the cause of her death was dashed by the announcement that it was “inconclusive.” But if the PME was “inconclusive,” whatever that means, why was the child buried before it was ascertained how she died?
In the absence of any known terminal illness aren’t there additional grounds for suspicion when a child dies suddenly?
We do not know that someone is responsible for her death but we are sure that something is responsible and that is what has to be determined. A child has lost her life. Her name was Sangeeta Persaud. We urge the Ministry of Health to look deeper into this matter to find the cause of her death. We owe that to the child. As mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, care-givers, we demand it.
Yours faithfully,
Joy Marcus
For Red Thread
