DPP orders psychiatric evaluation of mother

Battered girl in swamp

…“my daughter is a fighter” – emotional father

By Andrew Carmichael

Six-year-old Shania Ramsarran, who was found in an unconscious state on Sunday after she was severely beaten by her mother, continues to recover well at the Georgetown Public Hospital. The child was hospitalised after being picked up in an unconscious state by her grandfather in a swamp near to her Goed Bananen Land, East Canje, Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) home.
Her mother later confessed to law enforcement officers that she had beaten the child with a 2×2 piece of wood.
On Wednesday, the child’s mother was released on station bail as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) advised the Police to facilitate the process for the 25-year-old mother of two to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Regional Commander Superintendent Jairam Ramlakhan has said arrangements are being made to have the mother face the law for her actions. Arrangements have also already been made for the woman to undergo psychiatric evaluation.

“My daughter is a fighter”
Meanwhile, the girl’s father, Steve Ramsarran, 33, who has spent most of the time since Sunday evening at his daughter’s bedside at the Georgetown Public Hospital, said Shania has a special purpose in life. He referred to his six-year-old daughter as being a fighter.
“She is a lily warrior,” he added. “She is speaking and she is in her right senses for now. We are not pressuring her. She knows her name, she knows her age, she can walk,” Ramsarran said.
Shania is nursing lacerations to her head, and both of her eyes are swollen and black and blue.

Ramsaran said his daughter is very scared of her mother.
However, Ramsarran related that on some occasions when he went to visit his daughter, he could tell that something was wrong. However, he would only get the truth after probing. He said on two occasions he was told by his daughter that she was beaten by her mother.
“I confronted her there and then and asked her why she beat the girl. She telling me that the girl is bad and don’t listen to her.”
He said he thought it might just be seen as harsh scolding, but now it is being revealed to him the extent of the ill-treatment the six-year-old girl had to endure almost daily. He said that neighbours should have spoken out.
“They could have met me on the road or try to get my number and call me… I could have prevented this; if they had just made one phone call, this would not have happened,” an emotional Ramsarran said.
The taxi driver said he is now fearful for his daughter’s life if she is allowed to continue to reside with her mother.
The couple have been separated for more than three years.
Ramsarean said that they had mutually agreed that the five-year-old daughter would live with him and the six-year-old with her mother.
“I have to take this opportunity to get my daughter out of this mess,” he said.
Recounting the moment, he took his daughter from her grandfather who pulled her out of a swamp, Ramsarran said she was covered in mud, which was also in her eyes and nose. He described his feelings at that moment as being “angry.”
On Tuesday, the 25-year-old woman admitted that after beating the child with the wood, she left her in a swamp near their home.
Initially, the mother of two had professed her innocence, but as Police continued to interrogate her, she broke down and admitted that she was angry that the child had soiled her clothing while playing in the yard.
In her confession on Tuesday morning, the woman told Police that she had asked her daughter to remain in the yard and not to get her clothes messy, since she was dressed to go out with her father, who has visitation rights on Sundays. She claimed that when she noticed the child playing outside the yard, she picked up the piece of wood and went after the girl.
“She don’t hear, so I just clap two lash pon she,” the woman said in a shocking revelation.
She also revealed that she was scared because she thought her daughter was dead after she fell from the blow to the back of her head. The woman said that she did not tell anyone what had occurred.