Rev: Don’t blame parents for three kids’ deaths

Reverend Fabian Sandiford, leader of the Petit Valley Pentecostal Church, admonished the congregation, the community and by extension the national public for the untimely death of three children — Leslie Mohammed, Jason Mc Intosh and Alexis (jr) Mohammed. The children were burnt in a fire last week at their Petit Valley home. Yesterday their remains were buried in a single casket at the Carenage cemetery. The reverend also attempted to put the “shoe on the other foot” by calling on the neighborhood watch groups, neighbours, the social worker, the community police and “the arsonist” to shoulder the responsibilities for the death.

Rev Sandiford said: “There are those who are pointing accusing fingers at the parents, but to do that we must look at the circumstances and what society is about. What about the Neighbourhood Watch, or the person who had seen and did not assist, or the arsonist or the social worker or the community police, all who should have been there? “Many occurrences like these take place in our country every day. We need to start showing concern again on a day to day basis.” Rev Sandiford was at the time addressing mourners at the Petit Valley Pentecostal Church for Alexis, 3, Jason, 2 and their sister, Leslie, 4, who all perished in a fire that gutted their Petit Valley home last Saturday. Elizabeth Mohammed, mother of the children and Jason Mc Intosh, father, had gone to the market with their ten-month-old son Angelo Mc Intosh, leaving the others at home asleep when  tragedy struck.

Rev Sandiford called on the couple to stop crying because he was 100 percent  sure (quoting from the Bible) that the children are now with God, but that didn’t stop Ferdinand Mc Intosh, uncle of the children’s father from breaking down in tears while delivering the eulogy. Reverend Sandiford  further defended the couple by speaking about the commitment of the mother to her children and the father being a respectable hard working man who always showed genuine concern for his family and would never commit such a ghastly act. A seemingly traumatised Jason accompanied by his teary-eyed wife had to be assisted to get in the car on the way to the cemetery. Initially relatives had believed that the fire was an act of arson. But Fire Service officials have dismissed that or the possibility of an electrical problem, lighted candle or matches being responsible since none of these things were at the house. They are working on the theory of the gases from a possible explosion of a battery coming into contact with certain flammable materials in the house as being responsible for the blaze.