Sunset of Thursday brought great grief to family and friends of Vicky Persaud, 17, whose body was fished out of the Lusignan Canal.
According to reports, the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) student scheduled to sit the examination on Friday, left home Thursday afternoon in the company of a colleague whom he would usually work with on a part-time basis, to dispose of garbage near the ‘line top’ canal in Lusignan. It is alleged that Persaud fell into the canal when he bent over to wash his hands.
Aunt of the now deceased boy, Natasha, said she was informed that the child was with his part-time employer and son when he fell to his demise.
It is reported that upon realising he was about to fall, Persaud reached for the foot of his employer’s son, in an attempt to save himself. However, this resulted in the duo falling into the canal.
Natasha relayed that screams for help were heard from the boys, since neither knew how to swim. She said that Persaud’s boss then jumped into the canal in an effort to save his son, but this proved fruitless since he also could not swim.
Villagers were alerted by the cries for assistance and rushed to rescue the trio but by then it was too late for Persaud, whose body had moved from sight.
According to Natasha, the Vigilance Police Station was informed of the incident but they responded some
Deaded: Vicky Persaud
hour and fifteen minutes later.
She said the excuse given by the officers was that there were no vehicles available for them to travel to the area.
Persaud’s aunt further relayed that when the officers did show up, they refused to conduct a search for the boy’s body in the canal.
Another hour later and the body of Vicky Persaud was found by residents of the area.
Meanwhile, this incident was described as ‘sad’ by a senior rank of the Vigilance Police Station who declared that for villagers to expect there will always be an available officer at the Police Station, was irrational.
He said further that another unreasonable thought was for persons to think all officers knew how to swim and would put their life at risk for “an already dead person.”
It was reported by Natasha that a post mortem examination was conducted Friday, and the results were that Persaud’s death was caused by head trauma and drowning.
The family of the dead boy indicated that though they are not holding anyone responsible for the young man’s death, they are hoping for investigations to continue in an effort to reveal exactly what occurred in the seconds leading up to Persaud’s death.
Young Vicky Persaud leaves to mourn his parents, brother, 15, and sister, 13.
