An eleven-year-old boy was found dead in a drain at the back of his yard at Back Street, Herstelling, East Bank Demerara on Thursday afternoon.
Hours after he was last seen alive, the body of Vikaash Singh, a student of the Providence Primary School, was found in the drain, where it is believed that he fell and drowned.
His mother, Meenakumarie Singh, last saw him when he went to use the pit latrine at the back of their home. She said that her son, who suffers from epilepsy, had an attack earlier in the morning and she did not send him to school as a result. The woman said that she was in the pit latrine at the back of the house during the course of the morning when her son came to use it.
“Me been in de toilet, so me tell he when me done he gon come in and me lef he and come a front and then me nah see am,” she said, explaining that she left the boy at the back of the yard and she returned to the house in front.
“Me come back and then me nah see am, so me seh he pass me and gan a dam an play ’cause he does go deh but afternoon come and he still nah come home,” she added.
The boy’s mother said she then became worried and started looking for her son. Checks were made at the dam where the child would normally be with friends but he was not there. Eventually the child was found dead in the drain at the back of the house when his mother checked there. She said, “We start looking for he but we din find he and me look at de back me see he in de drain.” She then informed the police, who responded to the scene and took the child out.
When asked why checks were not made at the back of the yard where the child was last seen, his mother stated that she did not think it was wise to do so, since she thought he was on the dam with his friends. The child’s father, who is at sea, has not been informed of his death as yet, his mother noted.
Vikaash Singh was the third of five siblings. A post-mortem examination will be done on his remains on Monday to determine his cause of death.
