A mother is now mourning the tragic loss of her son after he drowned in a trench at ‘Sixth Bridge’ in Edinburgh Village, East Bank Berbice on Sunday afternoon.
Dead is 6-year-old Kayden Busey of Glasgow Housing Scheme, East Bank Berbice. Busey was a Grade One student of All Saints Primary School.
His mother, Gaynor Paul, 47, shared her emotional account with the Guyana Standard. Paul said Kayden and his siblings were playing in the yard. But she was not well, so she took a nap. Paul recalled the last time she heard the children playing in the yard was around 2:30 pm. She later got out of bed when a friend visited. Around 3 pm, a neighbor called out to her, informing her that someone was missing at the trench near Sixth Bridge.
Paul explained that her neighbor then inquired about the whereabouts of her children, and she quickly replied that they were not at home. She hurried to the scene and saw her two children, aged 4 and 8. Paul told the Guyana Standard that she asked about Kayden, and they informed her that he had gone into the water. The mother said she immediately returned home to call her brother and let him know that Kayden was missing. She added that for a brief moment, she thought Kayden had gone back inside the house. The initial efforts by residents to locate the body in the water were unsuccessful. She further stated that when she returned to the scene, the police had already arrived. Police and residents then asked the other children present at the trench to point out where the incident had occurred. According to the children’s indication, a man then plunged into the water and retrieved her son’s body. The mother said she performed CPR on Kayden, but unfortunately, it was too late.
In tearful detail, Paul described how her 8-year-old son recounted the events. The boy explained that while they were playing, the neighbour children, including girls ages 12 and 13, invited them to swim. The girls pranked the children by pretending to drown, prompting Kayden to jump into the water to save them. The girls then exited the water laughing, but Kayden remained submerged.
The older boy tried to save his brother but was unable to reach him. “He told me he saw Kayden still in the water and tried to save him, but he kept drifting and couldn’t reach him,” Paul recounted.
“He told me when, the girl come out of the water laughing he see Kayden still in the water and he jump in the water to save Kayden but he said he keep drifting and he wasn’t getting to reach his hand,” Paul explained.
Paul said on several occasion she warned her children about the trench. She described Kayden as a helpful and loving child.
“It hurt me. I am a single parent. Kayden was very willing. On the Sunday the Kayden was right by my side with his siblings although I wasn’t feeling well.”
