Mom: Alliyah asked me about heaven

Alliyah‘s mother Nicole Gopaul fought to hold back tears as she spoke about her dead daughter .

“Days before, my daughter was asking me what does heaven look like,” she said, adding that Alliyah was a lively child who never failed to bring laughter and happiness to her home and that of her parents.

Alliyah, Nicole said, was not a perfect child. In fact she was rude and would show attitude for everything.

She recalled a day when she sent an email to Alliyah’s father, Kitson Primus, asking him to come by and pick up his child.

“When I did not see him, I phoned her father. He said he did what was asked of him in the email.

When I read the email once more, Alliyah had sent another message saying, ‘Don’t bother ok’,” Nicole said causing laughter in the church.

She said Alliyah was always designing clothes and she would take a vest and make it into a skirt and wear it. So gifted was Alliyah that she would use bags to design dresses.

She said Alliyah’s dream was to go to Disneyland and her mother was making arrangements by getting her passport so that she could go with her father in December.

Nicole said she loved her daughter dearly and would not allow even an ant to bite her toes. She said she was the only parent who would be at the St Mary’s Baptist School everyday before 2.30 pm to pick up her child.

Nicole said since the incident on Friday last, she has not rested or eaten properly. She recalled when Alliyah was born, she was placed on life support for three days at the San Fernando General Hospital.

“She survived and lived to make us all happy. But the devil decided to take my child.” As she reflected on her eighth birthday on February 3, Nicole said she held a thanksgiving for Alliyah.

Nolene’s cousin Karlene Ali said she was loud and always in a festive mood. “My cousin would carry on loud, boisterous conversations with her neighbours,” she said, adding that Nolene found great happiness in cleaning her home and decorating.

She also said Alliyah was very fond of her. “She would feed the child and get her dressed for school in the absence of her sister Nicole,” she said, adding that Alliyah was spending the night at Nolene’s home when the fire took place.

Gopaul was married to Terrence Mc Intosh and had one child Terisha Ms Intosh, 15. Terisha was spending the night at her grandmother’s house when tragedy struck.

Meanwhile, the cause of the fire has not yet been determined, police said. Fire officers worked over the weekend to gather evidence.

Police were told by family members that fire was set outside the two main doors, making it difficult for anyone to escape. Nolene and Alliyah were asleep in the same bedroom on the first floor of the concrete house when the fire started during the early hours of the morning.

The remains were taken to the family’s home at noon yesterday and then to the St Mary’s Open Bible Church. Pastor Valerie Samuel conducted the service. The two were buried at the Paynter Cemetery.