Emily’s life of torture

FOUR-YEAR-OLD Emily Anamanthodo who was raped, buggered, burnt with cigarettes and the inside of her mouth injured died on Monday night at the San Fernando General Hospital after years of torture at the hands of people close to her.

Two relatives are now in police custody following what officers described as an “absolutely shocking and brutal” incident.

The child who had been a victim of abuse for most of her short life had reportedly been rescued from her Batan Drive, Marabella house on at least three occasions by the police, but was returned to the house where the torture continued until Monday night when her tiny body finally collapsed.

Neighbours heard the child’s screams and made reports to the police but no serious action was taken.

According to reports, the toddler was left with a relative on Monday night while a second relative went out. When the latter relative returned to the house, the baby girl was reportedly found unconscious.

Police said the person who found the child on the bed, wrapped her in a blanket and took her to the San Fernando General Hospital in a taxi.

Doctors at the hospital pronounced Emily dead-on-arrival and on seeing the condition the child was in, immediately contacted the San Fernando police. It is believed that the child was already dead before being taken to the hospital.

An autopsy carried out yesterday by Pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes at the Forensic Science Centre in St James revealed Emily had suffered multiple traumatic injuries and was raped and buggered.

Emily’s visibly shaken grandmother Chandradaye Basdeo, 59, witnessed the autopsy and spoke to Newsday at her Snake Alley, Vistabella home yesterday evening. Her voice breaking with emotion, Basdeo said she only learnt of the child’s death at 7.45 am yesterday.

“We celebrated her fourth birthday last week Sunday at my home,” she cried. Basdeo said Emily developed slowly but she loved her. She said that earlier in her young life, Emily had to spend five months at the San Fernando General Hospital.

“I was with her every day of those five months,” Basdeo said before she broke down in tears.

When Newsday visited the scene yesterday, a yellow “Police Crime Scene” tape surrounded the house.

Residents in the area told Newsday, the murder had thrown the entire community into a state of shock and disbelief.

A resident said that at about 10.30 am on Monday, while he was walking along Batan Drive, he heard strange, loud noises coming from the house.

The man added that the wooden walls of the house were shaking. The man said he grew frightened and ran off.

Emily’s murder is the latest in a series of deaths involving children and comes less than two months after six-year-old Sean Luke’s corpse was found in a canefield in Central Trinidad. Two boys, aged 13 and 16, have been charged for Luke’s murder. Sgt Wazir Hamid of the Southern Division Homicide Bureau is spearheading investigations.