By Ravin Singh

“HE was always in his 90s,” Gowcoomaree Persaud, says of her son’s exam results.

“He topped the school when he wrote the National Grade Six Assessment and I think he is the only person to ever get Queen’s College from that school.”

But now, her only son, Harris Anthony Persaud is dead, swept away by the tides of the waters off Kingston, Georgetown.

Sitting on a plastic chair downstairs in her Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara home, with tears flowing intermittently, she shared some experiences of the 19 years she shared with him.

Persaud was reading for his Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Guyana. It was nothing strange for him to go hang out with his friends, but Wednesday, an outing at the sea took a tragic turn when he plunged to his death.

A post-mortem confirmed that he died of drowning, but his friends, who reportedly panicked and fled the scene when he did not emerge from the waters, are still being held for questioning.

The family does not believe his friends had anything to do with Persaud’s death; there were no marks of violence on his body, which was pulled from the waters on Friday.

Persaud’s life, his mother said, was one of sacrifice, but a rewarding one. A teacher for close to 30 years, Gowcoomaree, who is more popularly known as Ms. Sunita, taught her beloved “Antho” at Virginia Nursery School and later Virginia Primary School and was always seen as a “top student.”

He moved on to the country’s most prestigious school, Queen’s College, and then moved on to university. Despite gruelling studies, he worked part time at construction company H. Nauth and Sons. Every day he travelled almost 40 miles to and from UG. His mother says that he would drive sometimes, but the day he died, she did not allow him to use the car.

She says that after classes, he would report to work where he would spend the rest of his evening, returning home almost midnight most nights. But Mrs Persaud revealed that his professional life and academic life were not the only areas he excelled in. In fact, he was a dedicated Christian who was the lead drummer at the local church the family attends – Kingdom Assemblies of God.

His mother explained how he was always willing to help out at church and would often sweep and pack up after church services. And as if this was not enough, she revealed that he was exceptionally helpful at home and would not allow other family members to do work once he was around.

“He was so helpful, I never did anything. His duty was to clean, wash, pack and cook. I am not too well, so he didn’t want me to do anything and he did not allow his sister to do work, he did everything. When all of his work was finished, then he’d attend classes,” she stated.

“He was so helpful, I never did anything. His duty was to clean, wash, pack and cook. I am not too well, so he didn’t want me to do anything and he did not allow his sister to do work, he did everything. When all of his work was finished, then he’d attend classes.”

He would even assist his 15-year-old sister with her studies. She is a student of St. Stanislaus College, preparing for the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC).

Persaud’s domestic life was built on love for his family as he would often say to her “Mommy, family is everything” and she recalled one instance where she took ill and had to be hospitalised. He was at the hospital before she got there, since he was in the city at the time.

She wept bitterly as she reflected on how he fed her after she was discharged from the hospital.

“When I came out [from the hospital], he [Anthony] fed and took care of me; he would always tell me not to do any work.

“After I came out from the hospital he called me and told me to put my head on his lap and I said, ‘I’m not a baby’ and he said, ‘Mommy, you’re my baby.’ Then I told him I wanted to go to the washroom, and he said, ‘Come Mommy, I’ll take you.’”

She stopped speaking briefly, as she wiped the tears flowing from her eyes. Then she continued, “If I take the broom to go and sweep, he’d take it away and say, ‘Mommy, I don’t want you [to] do it.’”

Mrs Persaud boasted of the fact that her son lived a humble but dedicated life. She noted that he never consumed alcohol, nor smoked. His only form of recreation, she said, was staying at home and listening to music with her.

Aside from that, she revealed that he was a fashionista and had more than 50 ties.

“He was a very tidy person and he loved to dress. He has over 50 different ties, so people at work started calling him “Tie Boy” because of his love for it.”

Still sobbing, softly, she smiled and said, “I am trying to take comfort in knowing that his time on earth is completed.”

Anthony was never described as an aggressive person, according to his mother. She explained that he never appreciated people “speaking rough” to him and would never encourage people to talk ill about others.

“He had a very unique personality,” she said.

And his fame in the village had not only derived from the fact that he excelled academically. Persaud was also described as being very helpful to those in the community and would go as far as helping those he didn’t know.

“He was very recognised in the area because he was always willing to help everybody. If he sees someone passing on the street with a heavy bag, he would go and assist them, even if he has to walk a few villages,” his mother disclosed.

Despite accepting the fact that her son is no more, Anthony’s mother still finds it strange that her son did not call to inform her of his whereabouts on the day he died, as he would always let her know of his whereabouts.

On Wednesday evening, when the young man was reported to have gone missing, his mother said she was at her aunt’s place and called home for him to pick her up at about 9:00 p.m. However, she was informed by her daughter that he hadn’t returned home.

She explained that when she returned home around 9:30 p.m., the family made attempts to call his cellphone, but there was no response.

Having assumed his battery had died, the parents then made attempts to contact his place of employment, but were told that he didn’t report for work that day. He reportedly called his workplace and told his supervisors that he would not be able to work since he had evening classes that day.

Having heard this, the mother and father then went out to look for him, but this proved futile as he was nowhere to be found.

“He [Anthony’s father] went as far as Victoria and said he didn’t find him. So when he returned, he woke up our neighbour and they went to Mahaica Police Station then Cane Grover Police Station and made reports.”

And just before her husband returned home after searching for Persaud, the mother said that she called one of the young man’s friends, “Sarwan,” to enquire if he knew where her son was. However, her son’s colleague told her that after they had finished classes around 12:00 p.m on Wednesday, Persaud took a bus and left UG.

She said that later that morning, several other attempts were made to contact him, but there continued to be no answer from the cellphone. Shortly after, her husband went a second time to search for Persaud. The worried father, at this point, decided to pick up both of his son’s friends, Sarwan and Dave, and the trio went in search of him.

Not having found him at UG, for the second time, the team went to National Television Network (NTN) where they made efforts to air a missing person’s broadcast. They also printed some flyers and distributed those at the bus park.

In a twist of events, the mother revealed that her husband decided to visit the landlord of Dave – who resides in Cummings Lodge – where he learnt from the landlord that the three friends left the premises together on Wednesday in a vehicle.

The landlord revealed though, that only Dave and “Sarwan”returned later that day. Mrs Persaud said that her husband, skeptical of this, left the landlord’s place with the two boys. While they were making their way in search of Persaud once more, she said that “Sarwan” started screaming in the vehicle.

At this point, her husband stopped the car to calm him down, and enquire what was wrong. It was then that her son’s friend revealed that the three of them went to swim behind the Marriott Hotel on Wednesday and a wave swept Persaud away.

“But my son can’t swim, and he was left there,” the crying mother said. The teen’s haversack was later found at Enmore, his cellphone at Buxton and his clothes at Cummings Lodge, all East Coast Demerara villages.

The boys reportedly told the police that they were terrified after Persaud did not emerge, and so collected his belongings. She said that the two friends were subsequently apprehended by the police and she is thankful that her son’s body was found so that he could have a decent funeral.