The body of a seven-year-old boy, who went missing on Wednesday afternoon, was pulled out of a Sophia trench early yesterday morning and his mother believes that her only child was murdered as he was found without his clothes and his neck appeared to be broken.
“Is murder dem murder me child,” wailed Zon Park as she stared at the body of her son clad only in his briefs at the edge of the trench.
The boy, Dacwan Sutherland, was sent on an errand by his mother around 13:00 hrs on Wednesday but he never made it back to her work place at the Digicel Cell Site in ‘B’ Field Sophia. The child was sent to his Lot 497 Section ‘C’ Sophia home to pick up a few items, including a soap dish, as his mother was working into the night and he would have remained there with her. Park said she and her son lived alone and she had no one to take care of him while she was at work.
A Sophia resident, Leslie Thomas, saw the child’s body in the trench just before 08:00 hrs yesterday and he raised an alarm. Neighbours recognized Sutherland, and Park was alerted. By the time she arrived on the scene her son’s body had been pulled out of the trench. The grieving woman said she had searched for her child for hours on Wednesday but no one had seen him and when night came she was forced to return to her home where she spent a fitful night until yesterday morning when his body was found.
A large crowd had gathered on the scene when Stabroek News arrived and many who gathered were of the view that the child was killed and his body dumped in the trench. Where the child’s body was found there is a submerged bridge that once connected two roads and while persons live on both sides of the trench no one recalled seeing the boy in its vicinity.
The mother pointed out that even if her son was crossing the trench and had fallen into the water someone would have seen and she pointed out that if that were the case, he would have been fully dressed.
The pair of slippers he was wearing at the time was found along with a bag and two water bottles he was asked to fetch from home. Missing were the soap dish, a small towel and undergarments for him and his mother. The woman said the fact that the child had the bottles with him meant he had reached home and collected the items.
“Whey dem things I send he for?’ she questioned as she constantly brushed flies away from her son’s face.
Stabroek News observed that there was what appeared to be blood at the base of the child’s nostrils and his neck did appear to be broken.
It was also noted that it was highly unlikely that the child would have ventured into the trench for a swim as the trench is not only weed infested but it also has garbage.
Park said her son would not have gone into the muddy water to swim. In addition, even though the man who found him searched the trench in the general area where the body was found the pants and shirt the child was wearing were not found. However, a cap he had been wearing at the time was found.
‘Mek a mistake’
Many of the residents present at the scene said the child was almost always seen with his mother and he was rarely seen walking alone on the road.
“He doesn’t walk alone. Duh woman was always with her son and now she mek a mistake and somebody kill she son,” a resident lamented.
Park said she had only sent her son to collect the items because she could not leave the worksite and she needed them to make their stay there during the night a little comfortable. She explained that her son attended Sophia Primary School but was sent home at midday. Some of the persons gathered were of the opinion that the child was killed somewhere else and his body dumped there during the course of the night.
“Is why dey kill you eh?” the sorrowing Park asked her son’s dead body. “Why dey do that? You ent do nobody nothing. You ent no swimmer. Wha you doing deh?”
Park said her heart was ripped out with the death of her child and she called on the police to investigate his death.
Police officers turned up on the scene and subsequently escorted Park away for questioning. She later told this newspaper that the lawman indicated that a post-mortem examination would be performed on the child’s body today.
