REPORTS reaching the Guyana Chronicle states, 65 year-old, Claudette Bertly- Seymour called “ten cents’, of Bum Bee Dam Lamaha Springs, North Ruimveldt  may have been intoxicated at the time she met her demise sometime between Friday evening and Saturday morning. Speaking with this publication, the dead woman’s son, Tavin Seymour said that he was informed that his mother was sitting on what used to be the flooring of a dismantled house when she fell into the canal. The man said his mother was in the habit of consuming alcohol and sometimes she takes one too many drinks.
According to Seymour, his mother may have been making her way along the dam to her squatting house located on the dam when she decided to sit in an attempt to catch herself. The man added that his mother may have rolled off the structure and fall over board because of the steepness of the dam.
Seymour added that his mother lives alone on the government reserve but is often visited by one of five children. He added that he is unable to visit his mother because of legal complications. He however admitted that his older brother is in the habit of visiting his mother and providing her with meals and other needs that she may have from time to time.
He told this publication that he is crying on the inside as he was very much in love with his mother but was not in a position where he could have seen her as often as he wished.  He said that he blames his other siblings for his mother’s death. Asked to explain Seymour disclosed that with the exception of him and his older brother, the other three siblings do not pay any interest in their mother and this he said caused his mother to worry a lot and subsequently consume alcohol in large quantities. He is of the view that when she studies her children and the little and no interest some of them pay, she drinks excessively.
Asked about who is expected to stand the expense for the woman’s funeral given the family’s disunity, Seymour said that they are expecting another sister to take care of that arrangement since she is a bit better off than the rest of the family. That woman however, is not someone that sticks close to the family.
Meanwhile persons in the area who knew the woman said that she was in the habit of soliciting financial assistance from customers of a popular convenient store along Aubrey Baker Road. The woman because of that practice was given the name, “ten cents”. Yesterday the police were not willing to give any information if there was any mark of violence on the woman.
When the Guyana Chronicle visited the exact location where the woman was said to be sitting at the time she allegedly fell into the water, a hive of Africanized bees could be seen circulating the area and even had a nest nearby. Some are of the view that the woman may have been attacked by the bees.
The man is calling for the authorities to assist those people living on the dam to secure house lots. He said that the area is dangerous for persons living there as they have no proper means of escape should anything happen to them or any other person living along the dam.