Six-year-old crushed to death by car at East Berbice

A six-year old boy was crushed to death under a car at Islington, on the East Bank of Berbice (EBB) yesterday morning.

Dead is Suraj Ajay Beharry, of Lot 22 Sixth Street, Islington Village, EBB, who was under the car when the vehicle slipped off a jack.

The incident occurred around 10:45 am and police later said that an investigation is ongoing into the boy’s death. According to police, the boy was in the company of his stepfather, Maheshwar Sookram, who was carrying out repairs to a car that was jacked-up at the time. The vehicle is reported to have slipped of the jack and crushed the boy, who was pronounced dead on arrival at the New Amsterdam Hospital.

Suraj Ajay Beharry

The boy’s still-in-shock mother, Celina Pitamber, 22, told Stabroek News that she left her son playing with his baby sister outside.  When she returned, she saw him under car. Before she could have told him to come out from under the car, the vehicle had already slipped and landed on his head. The boy did not make any sound and he was motionless.

Pitamber recalled that she started to scream, at which point Sookram realised what happened and he immediately tried to lift the car off of the boy. Neighbour rushed to his aid and as they were trying to remove the car, blood started to run out from underneath it, the boy’s mother added.

According to Pitamber, she is not sure what happened, but she emphasised that the boy was not helping his stepfather repair the car. She noted that usually when the boy played with his sister, she would throw away whatever she had in her hands and he would retrieve the item for her. “So I don’t know if that is what happened,” the mother, in tears, said.

She also noted that persons were spreading rumours that there was an argument between her and her husband, which may have triggered the terrible incident. The traumatized mother stated that she would like the public to know that there was no argument between her and the child’s stepfather.

The lad was described as very helpful and quiet. “He would help me do anything. He is a good child,” she noted. The boy, would have entered  his second year at the Overwinning Primary School in September, is survived by his parents, two sisters, and a brother. (David Papannah)