Latest update January 17th, 2025 6:30 AM
Illegal wiring kills Berbice infant
The scale, gravity and danger of persons stealing electricity came forcibly home in a grave way on Wednesday when a two-year-old child in the depressed squatting community of Angoy’s Avenue (Cow Dam) came into contact with a live electric wire.
The child was going after some fallen sweets when his hands came in contact with live wires in his yard.
The child, Jayo Lewis, was at home in his parents yard about 15:30 hrs at Mai Mai Dam, in Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam.
It is understood that the infant, the sixth of seven children, was with some of the other siblings who had sweets in their possession and he wanted some. Some of the sweets fell in the yard and Jayo went to retrieve them.
Dead: Jayo Lewis
He came into contact with some live electrical wire that was running through the yard and was supplying electricity to the home and other homes near by.
It is understood that one of the other kids upon seeing the child lying on the ground called out to their mother to “come and see Jayo playing dead pun we”.
His mother came out and found the child motionless on the ground. Then it was realized that he was electrocuted.
The woman, Florien, was inconsolable. She waited until the father arrived to take the child to the hospital. Amidst taunts, she denied negligence on her part in her son’s death.
The child’s father, Winston Lewis, called ‘Boxer’, a hand cart operator who plies his trade mostly in the New Amsterdam market and other areas in the town, was distraught as he hugged the motionless body of his child.
The body was taken to the New Amsterdam hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The man who was visibly shaken by the incident denied knowledge of the illegal electricity connections.
News of the child’s demise spread rapidly and a large crowd gathered in a short time. The police were called in and were conducting investigations.
The Angoy’s Avenue Area is one of the high risk squatting areas which have been neglected by the authorities.
Most residents obtain electricity through illegal connection, using telephone wires, fish hooks and other means to source the current.
The father was taken into custody to assist in the investigation.
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