A 10-year-old student is currently battling for her life at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) after an incident on Monday at her school – Regma Primary School – in MacKenzie, Linden, left her with serious head injuries.
June Alexander is currently on life support at the hospital after she was injured at school in an incident which is unclear as there have been conflicting reports of what transpired, and as a result, the Guyana Police Force is currently investigating.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, the child’s aunt, Annette, explained that on Monday, around 3pm, a teacher from the school visited Alexander’s grandmother, Sandra Sumner, and related that the young woman was currently at the MacKenzie Hospital in an unconscious state.
Upon hearing the news, Sumner immediately contacted Alexander’s mother, Angela Hamilton, and they rushed to the hospital where Alexander lay unconscious.
“The doctors say they didn’t able with her and she has to go to town and scan her head,” Annette explained, while noting that since at the McKenzie hospital, the child was on a life support machine.
Shortly after, she was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital accompanied by some relatives, excluding her mother, who Annette said, was too emotionally distraught to leave, coupled with the fact that she’s a single parent with seven other children.
Annette explained that the following day she had to go to the school to deal with a complaint that her daughter had made to her about someone from the school hitting her with a piece of wood in her back.
While at the school, she related to the officials that she was Alexander’s aunt and enquired whether they knew what happened to her.
“They said she was running on the corridor and her laces tangled and she slipped on sand and knocked her head. I said okay and this is the report we told the doctor [at GPHC] about what happened. They did the CT scan and the doctor said it wasn’t from falling like that and it was more severe. He even called the police and told them it wasn’t a fall,” Annette explained.
She disclosed that when the police visited the school to do their investigation, they were told conflicting reports.
“One person said the child was skipping and fell on the concrete and that’s what the police told us. The doctor even called the mother and asked the mother if she [her daughter] had problem with anyone at the school because it seems like if the child was beaten and fell from a height,” she explained.
The tests from the CT scan showed that the girl is currently bleeding in her brain. She has not regained consciousness since being taken to the McKenzie Hospital.
“We are trying to get the truth out of the story. They give me one story and they giving the police something else. We just want the truth and justice. I can’t say what happened because I wasn’t there but based on the doctor’s report she fell from a height. She was on life support from Linden and never came off the machine. They even said she needs blood now and I don’t understand how all of this could happen if she just running and fall or she was skipping and fall,” the aunt explained.
She noted that earlier in the week, Alexander’s mother had visited one of the teachers that had punished her child by putting her to stand in the hot sun because she wasn’t wearing any socks. As a result, Hamilton visited the school on Monday and had a verbal exchange with the teacher.
“We just want the truth. Based on some things the children are saying it’s conflicting with what the teachers are saying and we don’t know what’s going on,” the aunt emphasised.
Police Commander of ‘E’ Division Linden Lord told Stabroek News yesterday that the police interviewed students, teachers and cleaners from the school and were told that the child was running before she fell off the stairs and hit her head. She was picked up in an unconscious state.
However, he noted that they are still investigating because they are receiving conflicting reports and will be sending the file for legal advice.
