THE 25-year-old mother who was detained by police following the discovery of her six-year-old daughter in an unconscious state, submerged in mud in a swampy area in East Canje, Berbice, has confessed to beating the child with a piece of wood on Sunday last.The woman said that on Sunday she took her daughter for a walk and, after being warned not to “run around and get dirty,” the child paid no heed and she struck her with a piece of wood, rendering her unconscious. The woman told detectives that she thought the child died after she struck her to the back of her head, so she made her way back home and pretended that the child was missing. Investigators believed that the woman tried to cover up the crime since the child was submerged in mud.

Meanwhile, the police, in a statement, disclosed that the parents of the child have been separated for some time but the father was given visitation rights to see the child every Sunday. Around 08:00 hrs, the father contacted the mother and made arrangements to collect the child. The mother stated that she prepared the child to be picked up by her father. The child was then left in the yard playing. The grandmother recalled last seeing her granddaughter around 11:30 hrs. However, about 12:30 hrs when the grandfather made checks for the child, he did not find her, and, as a result, a search party was formed.

Neighbours and relatives combed the area . The child was eventually discovered about 500 feet away from her Goed Bananen Land, East Canje home by her grandfather, Satkar Balkaran, 63, who was part of the search party. A piece of wood was found next to the child’s battered body. The Guyana Chronicle understands that the said wood was taken from the mother’s home; it was a piece of left-over wood from ongoing construction. Balkaran said that when he found his granddaughter in that state, he felt as though he would have died. “When I was searching, I could ah drop dead when I see she,” he stated.

A neighbour, Sabita Ramcharitar, who spoke with reporters, said the mother constantly beats and ill-treat the child. Neighbours recall hearing the child cry almost daily but would be fearful to speak to the mother since she would verbally abuse them. “The lil child have to do everything for herself, and if she can’t do it properly, the mother would haice (lift) her and lick her down; sometimes take wood and lash the child, sometimes even cuff the child in her head and back and face and when the child cry, she would tell the child to shut yo mouth before I give you more,” the neighbour related. Meanwhile, police have prepared a file which would be sent to the Director of Pubic Prosecutions, today, for legal advice. The six-year-old suffered a fractured skull and had two cuts on her forehead. She remains in a serious condition in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).