A four-year-old boy is in hospital with a fractured skull and broken arm after he was beaten by his stepfather though his mother initially told the police that her child had fallen down.
The incident occurred at Parika Facade, East Bank Essequibo on Sunday.
According to the aunt of the four-year-old, on the night of the incident, her 13-year-old nephew came to her house and told her that his stepfather and mother had a fight while they were intoxicated. He urged that the family go over to the house to intercede.
The fight as explained by the nephew resulted in the four-year-old being assaulted by the stepfather.
The aunt took the child to the police station and reported the matter. To her surprise, the aunt said that she was told by the officers at the Parika Station that they would have to return in the morning.
The father of the children, an uncle and others went to the home around 6 am and found the four-year-old bleeding through his ears with several marks of violence about his body.
“They come back not long after, not 10 or 15 minutes after and they bring the child by me (the aunt). It’s that went we see how this child was. He couldn’t stand up, you calling for him he isn’t answering, he was just unconscious. One, one time he was moving and I rushed him down to the station. When we rushed out there, that is when they went for the stepfather but he was not at home. And, so went back to the station and when we go we didn’t go to any station or anything because of the state the child went in. We had to rush him to the hospital fast”, the aunt told Stabroek News.
The aunt said that the family rushed to the Leonora Cottage Hospital, and they took him to the emergency unit. He was then sent to Georgetown Hospital for a CT scan, where it was found that he had a fractured skull. The child was finally admitted into the West Demerara Hospital with a broken arm and fractured skull and was also unresponsive.
After telling the police that the child had fallen down, the mother later confessed that the stepfather had inflicted the beating.
“The Monday morning when we went to get this boy, the police told her that she had to come to the station. So, when she went to the station the police asked her what had happened to the child and she said that the child had fallen down. I don’t know if she was still intoxicated or what but the same Sunday night when this incident happened both of them were drinking and when the Sergeant from Parika Station went for her yesterday to give a statement and so, that is when she told the police that the stepfather did beat her up, he beat up the child and so”, the aunt said.
The mother of the child was also later admitted to the hospital with a broken arm and a cut face.
The aunt said that the police are looking for the stepfather but believes that he could have been caught on the night of the incident but the police chose not to cooperate.
