Death of baby: Day care facility was uncertified, ordered to close

– file sent for legal advice on way forward

Days after seven-month-old Oriyah Gravesande suffocated and died at a private daycare at Ogle on the East Coast Demerara (ECD), Police said the file was compiled and sent to the DPP Chambers for legal advice on the way forward.
The Police stated that it was part of a joint investigation with the Child Care and Protection Agency and the Human Services and Social Security after which it was decided that the file should be sent for legal advice.
However, the owner of the daycare facility was granted cash bail and ordered to report to the Sparendaam Police Station, ECD, on a daily basis. Guyana Times was also informed that the operations at the daycare came to an abrupt halt following the incident.

Officials have also confirmed that the facility was uncertified for years and ought not to have been in operation. This raised questions about how such a facility could operate without proper authorisation.
On Tuesday, the infant’s mother, Shavanie Gravesande, was called to the facility after being informed that her daughter was unresponsive.
“They called me and tell me that our baby was unresponsive when they took her to the health centre, and by the time they reached the Georgetown Hospital, she was pronounced dead…she left home good, smiling and everything,” the child’s parent told the media.
The mother, devastated by the loss of her child, added that she was contacted two hours after the incident, and by the time she arrived at the hospital, she was told that her baby had died. A post-mortem examination performed on the body of the seven-month-old has revealed that the infant died from haemorrhage and compression to the neck.
The post-mortem examination was conducted on Wednesday by Government Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh at the Georgetown Public Hospital’s Mortuary.