Beaten boy leaves hospital

YOUNG VINODE SINGH is back home from hospital, but police are not letting down on the investigation into the beating he received with a mop handle three weeks ago. Vinode, nine, of Borde Narve Village just off San Fernando, suffered a ruptured spleen and had to undergo emergency surgery at the San Fernando General Hospital. He was discharged on Thursday after being hospitalised for almost two weeks. Police have taken statements from Singh and his mother, Savitri Deosaran, about the incident on Wednesday February 23.

He was beaten with a mop handle by a man who became enraged when young Vinode allowed another relative to use the family’s telephone at their home. When Newsday visited Singh’s home yesterday, the boy and his mother were at home alone. Vinode has a sister, Sattie, four, who was at school. Looking lovingly at her son, Deosaran told Newsday that though Vinode no longer experiences pain, he could not attend school just yet. He is a Standard II pupil of the Jordon Hill Presbyterian School. “I am feeling better,” a smiling Vinode told Newsday.

Deosaran, who worked as a domestic servant, said she is unsure of going back to work. “Right now I just want to make sure my son gets better. I am not sure how I feeling right now,” she added. Reluctant to go into the details of what transpired, Deosaran said the relative who struck her son only meant to “frighten” him. “He said he did not mean to hit him and he only hit him two lash on his bottom,” the mother said. But the mother added that she would not hamper the police in the investigation into the incident. Cpl Harrigin of the Princes Town Police Station is investigating the incident.