The three-year-old child who was hospitalized on Saturday at the Fort Wellington Hospital after a severe beating is expected to be placed in protective custody and charges are likely to be laid against his relatives.

Charran Sahadeo

Charran “Sanjay” Sahadeo who lived at Blairmont, West Bank Berbice with his aunt and her reputed husband was beaten because he did not want to rock the couple’s baby.

He was reportedly beaten with a stick about his face and body, his head was slammed into a wall, he was choked with a sheet and pepper sauce was thrown into his eyes.

The child continues to be in good spirits and during this newspaper’s visit yesterday he was scribbling in a book and playing with his stuffed toys that kind-hearted persons had taken for him.

He was also enjoying the attention given by the nurses so much that when the shift changed and they had to leave he started to cry bitterly. He only stopped when someone hugged him and told him he would be ok.

A resident of Canada who operates a business in Guyana told this newspaper via telephone yesterday that he wants to help the child and would start a fund for him when he arrives in the country sometime this month.

The aunt and uncle were arrested on Monday following a swift investigation by officers of the Probation and Welfare department at Fort Wellington.

Charran’s aunt, Sunita had told this newspaper that the child was living with his mother, Babita (Sunita’s sister) and his stepfather at “Kayman Sankar Backdam” at Blairmont.

She said the child was beaten and abandoned in front of her closed door with a plastic bag containing his clothing, birth certificate and clinic card.

The woman, who has a one-month-old baby, kept denying that she and her reputed husband were responsible for the child’s beating. This newspaper has so far been unable to reach the child’s parents.

The aunt has 12 children with her former husband and her present partner. Five of her children are at the Camal’s Home at Albion, Corentyne while another is at an orphanage in Georgetown.

Meanwhile, Stabroek News learnt that the uncle, whose left leg is amputated, was placed on a bond after he appeared at the Blairmont Court, charged with physically abusing one of his stepdaughters.

The child had run away and hidden in the bush for the entire night and after the probation officers received the report, the man was arrested and charged and the child was sent to the home in Georgetown. He also spent one year in jail for reportedly chopping someone.