The family of Raiwattie Pooran, a 12-year-old girl who succumbed some seven weeks after she was struck down by a car along the Industry Public Road on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD), is seeking answers to questions about her supervision at the ‘Bless The Children’s Home,’ where she had been living.
Speaking with Sunday Stabroek yesterday, Pooran’s grandmother, who identified herself as ‘Aunty Savie,’ said that the orphanage is yet to give her family precise information as it pertains to the accident and the injuries that the girl received.
She also said that the family was only informed of the accident and Pooran’s death by another child who also resides at the home.
“So the home never call we and tell we that meh granddaughter get into a accident. Is a bhai from the home call meh daughter and tell meh daughter that Raiwattie get knock down…,” the woman said.
When this newspaper contacted the Bless The Children’s Home, a representative who answered the phone said that they will not be providing any comment on the matter.
The accident occurred on April 24, 2022.
Savie added that although she went to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where her granddaughter was admitted, she was denied entry into the room to see her granddaughter since a “cook” from the orphanage was already visiting the child. She said it was only until other persons at the hospital argued for her to be let in that she was allowed.
The still grieving grandmother told this newspaper that her granddaughter’s injuries were severe but they were never given the full picture about her condition.
“One time she tell me that the doctor them taking she [Raiwattie] fuh go do some scan and x-ray…when I ask she wah the x-ray she, she seh that no way break…but when we find out from the doctor we self, the scan seh she head bleeding inside, hand and ribs break and she lungs puncture… When I the first ask she why meh granddaughter hand bandage up, she seh all she get was a lil bruise,” the woman related.
Although they went to visit Pooran, she said, they were rarely granted the opportunity to see her since the person who identified herself as “the cook” from the orphanage was always in the room. However, when the time came for someone from the orphanage to sign an authorization for the child to be placed on a ventilator, no one showed up for approximately three days.
Savie said it was only then that the girl’s mother was allowed in the room to see her daughter and sign the authorization.
When asked what the family was told about Pooran’s accident, the grandmother said that there were two different accounts related.
“She [the cook] tell me that the big lady [Supervisor] that deh in there, she grandson and granddaughter and Raiwattie come out pan the road fuh go and buy something… and the boy ker back he sista, come back fuh Raiwattie, and when he come back fuh Raiwattie she get in a accident… now them doubting and saying something different—that Raiwattie walk out the house and them nah know,” said the grandmother.
Pooran’s grandmother said that although the orphanage has claimed never to have seen any family member for the child, she and her daughter would pay visits to Pooran and her two brothers, who were also at the orphanage with her.
“But me used to go, me and meh daughter used to go and check pon me granddaughter and two grandsons. We does buy thing and carry it fuh them, we does even bring them home by me sometimes and even call them pan phone and talk to them…them seh no family ever gone and that we only show up just when this girl get in accident, which is a lie,” argued the distressed grandmother.
Meanwhile, the now deceased child’s aunt, Indranee Denosarran, yesterday disclosed to Sunday Stabroek that the children were only placed into the orphanage by their father, who had refused to allow family members to keep them and help support them.
“The mother and father they separate…. Is the father take them children to the orphanage. Family ask but he seh no. The lil girl de deh by me and he come and ker she away…then he went and take the two boys away from meh brother. Three day or four day after then we hear the children them deh into a home,” said Denosarran.
The aunt also said that the family was informed that the driver of the car who hit Pooran was initially arrested and put on bail and then rearrested following Pooran’s death. The driver is expected to be charged soon. (Aviso Paul)
