Search still on for body of 7-year-old girl

By Bibi Khatoon

It has been five days since seven-year-old Jayleena Titus went missing after playing in the water near the Guyana Marriott Hotel at Kingston, Georgetown, and her family is looking for closure.

News Room today spoke to her mother, Onecia Henry who has been unable to eat or sleep since Saturday, August 26.

“Every day am out there, we are out there. Every day, every day, I not too long come back from the seawall. Just hoping and praying that my daughter, if I can’t find the body there, or just praying that somebody can say they find her walking around or something because I ain’t believe like she actually died,” the distraught mother said.

The mother of four related that she was not residing with her children at the time of the incident given a misunderstanding between her and their father. However, the woman said she ensured she saw them every day, since she is just a street away in Alberttown, Georgetown.

Recalling the last time she saw her daughter, Henry told News Room that, “the last word for me with she is ‘Mommy I love you.’ That was the last thing she tell me and kiss me, like three times in a period before she leave. Three times she come and kiss me, kiss me.”

The father, Richard Titus explained that since the beginning of the July-August vacation, he would take his children to the seashore in the afternoons to play while he himself goes fishing.

He was not in a state to speak with the News Room but the 38-year-old woman shared what was told to her by her son and his father.

“My son is who really went there when my daughter drowned… he really see—he was more close to her than the father when the accident happened. So he is the one that see, that the wave gone with her, and he try go in and grabbing towards her and she bit him,” Henry said. She noted however that she cannot understand how the girl would bite her brother’s hand if she’s drowning.

The 10-year-old brother has since been suffering from nightmares since the incident and he too is unable to eat. The family is urging persons, including fishermen to assist them in their search and help them to get some closure.