The lifeless body of nine-year-old Zamar Chester, a student of Watooka Day Primary School in Linden, was discovered in the Demerara River on Thursday morning.
This child’s mother, Leisa Chester, who told Guyana Times that Zamar had recently moved to Linden from the Essequibo Coast in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), detailed that on Wednesday afternoon, after returning from school, Zamar undressed and went outside. She had initially thought he was pranking her, but became alarmed when he did not return home.
“I sent his brother to call him, because (I) was about to iron their clothes for school and my clothes for work; and I didn’t see him come back. I see his brother come back. My sister called me and asked me where is our boat, and I told her it was on the landing…,” Leisa said. The family lives near a landing, and has a small boat docked there.
“I searched the house, I didn’t see Zamar…I decided to tell him (her father-in-law) that I (was) not finding the boy…,” this mother detailed.
She said that, shortly after, her brother-in-law arrived and enquired why her boat was flipped and floating in the river. Upon hearing that, she said, she thought her son Zamar had untied the boat from the landing and had gone into hiding.
“My brother-in-law said that he swam out to go and get the boat, and it look like Zamar fall out of the boat. Right away we called out the neighbours, and they started searching; and we didn’t find he…,” she detailed.
“When I see his little brother passed, I asked him, ‘Where is Zamar?’ and he told me Zamar had jumped in the river. He came in the yard and didn’t tell me his brother jumped in the river until I asked,” she lamented.
She recalled that, after hours of searching, Zamar’s lifeless body floated ashore on Thursday afternoon. She said a postmortem was conducted on Friday, and the results stated that her son had died by drowning.
This grieving mother, understandably devastated by her tragic loss, shared how pained she was by the realization that her son had plunged into the river. She said the entire family is mourning the loss of this young life; one that has gone too soon. (G9)
