At 62, Lilowtie Deephia knows the daily struggle to care for the nine children of her son, Budram ‘David’ Persaud who is in jail after he killed the children’s mother, Rubeena Sammy, five years ago.
Deephia is ill and, in the yard of her 56 David Rose Housing Scheme, Mahaica home yesterday, she told Stabroek News that it has been very difficult to maintain the children but she tries her best. She has to be mother and father to Timothy Persaud, 7, Aliya Persaud, 8, Debra Persaud, 9, Sara Persaud, 11, Abiola Persaud, 14, Parbattie Persaud, 15, Mahendra Persaud, 17 and Bhanmattie Persaud, 20. Premchand Sammy, 22, grew up at his grandmother’s home. The children came to Deephia five years ago, scarred by the killing of their mother and the subsequent arrest of their father for the offence. Last Thursday, Persaud, 39, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the High Court and was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Although, the children were younger when their mother died, they remember her and what happened vividly, Deephia said. She has struggled to raise the children but manages to send them to school. Now, the family is slowly being split.
Bhanmattie explained that an aunt, her mother’s sister, recently promised to take care of one of the younger girls since she is in a better position and one has since moved to the aunt’s Good Hope home. This aunt, Bhamnattie said, does not take the child to visit her family nor does she speak to them.
“De father de want see her before school open but I don’t know if they will send her,” Deephia added. She said that the children were very close to their maternal relatives but they have drifted apart since Rubeena’s death. “They don’t even come to see them…they probably say the boy wrong and don’t want anything to do with them…that’s what I consider,” she said. Other members of her family, Deephia stated, would usually offer whatever assistance they can afford during their visits.
In the five years since the death of their mother, the two eldest siblings have gotten married.
Sadly, Bhanmattie’s husband, a fisherman, died two years ago at sea, leaving her to provide for their 4-year-old daughter. However, she is unemployed and is dependent on Premchand, who is a fisherman like his grandfather. They support the household. Because her husband is a diabetic, Deephia explained, he works only part time.
The woman explained that these earnings are barely enough and it has gotten harder since they now receive public assistance for only the two youngest children, which is $5,500 each per month. “In 2008 I been get book for all of them but then they tek it back in 2010,” she said. The elderly woman recalled that she had asked about the matter at a meeting in January but was told that only two of the children qualify.
It was difficult to get the assistance, she said. Deephia explained that in order to have this done, she was required to produce Rubeena’s death certificate, along with her identification card and the childrens’ school letters. “I had to beg the children aunty (maternal) to give me it but she give me a photocopy of it,” the woman recalled.
Deephia revealed also that Sara and Debra do not have their birth certificates as they were never registered. According to her, she attempted numerous times to have this done but was never successful. The children, she said, really need these documents for school. This also contributes to the fact that these children are no longer offered public assistance.
“They used to use they clinic card but now the people saying they need the birth certificate,” she explained.
Deephia said that though she does not mind caring for her grandchildren, she needs to focus on herself as well. “I didn’t know I had diabetes…only three weeks now I know,” she said.
The woman recalled that about a month ago, she visited the Mahaicony Hospital and was told that she had an infection in her kidney. “They didn’t do any test or nothing…just give me de tablets just so and when I start taking de medication like I start getting more sick,” she recalled.
This prompted her to return to the hospital where she met another doctor who informed her that the previous diagnosis was incorrect. “The other doctor did some tests and then she ask me if I know I’m a diabetic…I said no and start to cry… it was 400 over 4. She say if I de wait lil bit more, I woulda fall in a coma,” Deephia said sadly.
She is feeling much better at the moment and is happy to be in better health since she has to continue taking care of the younger children. “I does got to look after them myself. I have to make their tea, make sure they go to school, prepare they lunch and everything for them,” she said, adding “it’s been rough and it is getting harder.”
When asked how she felt about her son’s sentence, Deephia responded, “What I gon say? If he de get a smaller sentence he might of able to come out and help with he children. It would be better but what I gon do?”
