No charges in death of 10-year-old student – Hicken

The Guyana Police Force is working along with the parties involved in the recent death of a 10-year-old pupil, who died several days after being kicked in the stomach by a classmate.

According to A Division (Georgetown-East Bank Demerara) Commander, Clifton Hicken, the Police Force, the Education Ministry, the teachers of the school in question and social workers are all working together on the matter.

He also told Guyana Times on Thursday that they have been in contact with the

families of both the late 10-year-old Rosanna Harris and her nine-year-old classmate who reportedly inflicted the injury.

The Commander further explained to this newspaper that while the laws do not provide for any criminal charges to be laid against the aggressor in the matter, officials are working with the child to have him undergo counselling.

“He is traumatised with what has happened (with Harris) and with what has been reported in the media,” Hicken told this newspaper, adding that the lad has been interviewed twice by the Police.

Meanwhile, Education Minister, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine told reporters on Thursday following a tour of the new Texila American University (TAU) campus in Providence, East Bank Demerara, that he met with the bereaved family of the deceased child that morning at their Lot 9 Public Road, La Penitence, Georgetown home and offered Government’s assistance.

“I just went to visit the family and I must tell you, it is one of the most appalling

things I’ve had to do and we are going to see how best we can assist with the funeral arrangements and that kind of thing. But the family is going to need much more than that to lose a child under those circumstances,” he related.

Harris, a former Grade Five student of St Stephen’s Primary School located in Charlestown, Georgetown, went home two Fridays ago with a stomach ache and told her mother that another student had kicked her.

That weekend, the child was in pain and began throwing up. She was then taken to Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where several tests were conducted including an ultrasound but nothing was reportedly detected and the child’s condition remained the same.

Last Saturday morning, Harris’s mother checked on her and she was responsive. However, a few minutes later, she was found dead in bed by her sister.

A post-mortem examination conducted on Monday revealed that the 10-year-old died as a result of blood poisoning caused by blunt trauma to the stomach which is consistent with a kick.