–heartbroken parents warn, after losing son two Easters ago

WITH schools closing on Friday for the Easter holidays and thousands of children looking forward to the two-week break, parents and guardians are being cautioned to be extra

vigilant where their charges are concerned.

This timely warning is coming from the parents of nine-year-old Shaquan Gittens, who died rather tragically two Easters ago.

On April 4, 2015, Shaquan’s bound and half-naked body was pulled from a trench aback South Ruimveldt, thereby bringing to an end a desperate three-day search in the hope that he would somehow be alive.

Three days prior to the discovery, the child was last seen flying his kite in his South Ruimveldt neighbourhood.

From all accounts, he knew his assailant, since the man reportedly lived in the said South Ruimveldt community.

The 23-year-old suspect would eventually confess to committing the crime, and is now awaiting trial before the High Court.

Speaking Tuesday to the Guyana Chronicle, the child’s parents, Doysha Gittens and Earl McAlmont explained that during this time of year, children tend to wander around the village aimlessly, flying their kites and just having a jolly good time playing with their little friends.

PAEDOPHILES ON THE PROWL
It is for this very reason that Shaquan’s dad is advising that parents should pay special attention to their children’s whereabouts, since kidnapping seems to be the order of the day of late.

“A lot of predators kidnapping children now!” Mr McAlmont said.
“My advice to parents is to pay attention to their children, especially at this Eastertime, when they tend to stray away from home,” he added.

The grieving father said that while some parents would awake this Easter Monday to the smiling faces of their children, he would be painting his baby’s tomb to mark his second death anniversary.

Quoting a familiar saying, “It takes a village to raise a child”, Shaquan’s mother, who is a teacher, said that neighbours should be like village watchdogs, watching out for every move the children make and reporting any irregular activities.

This year, Easter Monday falls on April 17. According to Shaquan’s mother, had he lived, her son would have turned 12 on April 19. He would have also written the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), scheduled this year for April 12 and 13.

The last time she saw her son alive, Shaquan’s mom said, was on April 1, 2015. She’d left him in the care of his 15-year-old brother and gone to work. On returning home later that day and not seeing him, she said she was told by his brother that Shaquan had left to go on the streets and play. Neighbours even told her that they did see him flying a kite.

But after night came and she didn’t see him, she became worried and went around the community in search of him, as it was unlike him to stay out late at night.

When he hadn’t turned up the following day, she made a missing person report and began posting flyers.

GRUESOME FIND
It wasn’t until two days later, the grieving mother said, that she received word that the police had found Shaquan’s lifeless body; that a 23-year-old “junkie”, who was no stranger to the village, had confessed to killing him. The man had reportedly taken detectives to the spot where he’d committed the heinous act.

He’d even confessed to ‘eyeing’ Shaquan for months, and having several confrontations with the child whenever he tried to approach him.

He reportedly told the police that on the day the child disappeared, he’d ambushed and tripped him, causing him to fall. After Shaquan fell, the suspect said, he dragged him all the way to a deserted area, some half-a-mile from the nearest house in South Ruimveldt. It was there, he told the police, that he manacled the child’s hands and sodomised him.

As he did so, the suspect told the police, he not only had his hands around the child’s neck, choking the life out of him, but when he was done, at some point he cut his genitals off.

He would later dump the child’s motionless body, sometime the next day, in a trench.

Government pathologist, Dr. Nehaul Singh gave the cause of death as manual strangulation and drowning. There were also signs of sexual assault, and the post mortem also confirmed that the child’s privates were missing.