A two-year-old child from Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo drowned after he fell into a trench on Saturday and disappeared into the Essequibo River. He had been left unattended.
His body washed ashore at the Philadelphia koker the following day.
A distraught Wahida Gansham, grandmother of the now dead Soomal Gansham, said that her son Sookdeo
Gansham, who is the father of the child, left him in the care of his mother on Saturday and went in search of a job.
When he returned to his Zeelugt Squatting Area home and did not see his son, he enquired from his common-law wife about the whereabouts of the child.
The mother, who habitually consumes alcohol, was intoxicated on the day the child went missing, the grandmother said.
A frantic search began with the help of neighbours but efforts to locate the child came up empty on Saturday.
The body of the two-year-old washed ashore at the Philadelphia Koker, a few villages away from Zeelugt on Sunday evening.
The grandmother said that the water inside the trench in front of the house was high and the child may have ventured onto a ‘ghat’ (ramp) which was built to use water from the said trench.
The trench which is connected to the Essequibo River is used to drain and irrigate the area.
The police arrested the parents but the father was subsequently released. The mother remains in custody.
