By Sara Bharrat

A 6-year-old child was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) yesterday afternoon after she was crushed by a concrete wall which collapsed.

Stephanie Roopdeo of Enterprise Gardens, East Coast Demerara (ECD) was crushed when a concrete wall collapsed on her as she sat in a hammock that her grandfather had tied in a building for which he was the caretaker.

Both her parents work, relatives explained, so it was the custom for her father to drop her off at her grandparents’ home in Enterprise Housing Scheme after school. Her grandfather, Ramesh Roopdeo, who was with the child at the time of the incident, explained what had happened.
The man told this newspaper that he was the caretaker of the house presently under construction. The building is located directly behind his house. Its owners, the man said, reside in Canada and he oversaw whatever construction was being done on the building.

 “She father drop her off here this afternoon [yesterday],” he said. Roopdeo went on to explain that the workers had brought some material to work on the house. “She went across to the house with me,” Roopdeo said. “I tie up the hammock, she was right around me playing…” he went on his voice beginning to tremble, “… I just turn around, and then she go and sit in the hammock. All I see is the wall fall on she.”

When this newspaper visited the elder Roopdeo’s house last night relatives and neighbours gathered to hear the story. The late child’s grandmother sat in her hammock still in a state of shock, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Earlier yesterday afternoon when Stabroek News visited the hospital, Stephanie’s father, his eyes red, grief stricken by his daughter’s death, sat among a group of relatives.. His wife was inconsolable when she arrived at the hospital.

This newspaper understands that when Stephanie’s body arrived at the hospital various bones in her body were broken and blood still oozed from her nose, ears and mouth. “She had no chance.” One man who had seen her said. “She was totally crushed.”