An illegal electricity connection yesterday caused the death of  an eight-year-old  Annandale Primary School  boy, Mark Anthony Persaud, of 38 Railway Embankment, East Coast Demerara.
According to his aunt, Ms.Jennifer August, Mark, along with his six-year-old cousin, went fishing in a nearby canal at around 09:00hrs.
She pointed out that shortly after that time the family received a call informing them that her nephew was in the canal, unconscious.
She was told that while he was coming out of the canal, Mark stepped on an exposed live wire and was electrocuted.
“When I reach he was already dead and lying on the grass,” the grieving aunt said “We call the police and they took his body away,” she added.
She revealed that representatives from the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) arrived on the scene shortly after and removed the electrical wire connected to a lamp post and running underground, directly into the canal.
Remembering her joyful and playful nephew, August added, “He was a good child who loved to fish and play.”
“The last time I see my brother was this morning when I sent him to buy cigarettes,” said his visibly shaken, older brother, Basdeo Mangroo.
Mangroo said that the electric wires were connected to a house nearby.
Father of the victim, Looknauth Persaud, said, “I see my son this morning, next thing I hear, my son dead.”
The parents of the deceased boy were taken to the Vigilance Police station to give their statement.