By Colwyn Abrams
A Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara mother of two is now a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital after she allegedly delivered a baby boy Wednesday and then disposed the baby into a pit latrine in the yard.
The woman’s family said since the incident, 25-year-old Pera Annie Moortar has been having seizures and needed to be hospitalized; she had also threatened to kill herself in the past.
Pera lived here with her two children, a 2-year -old and 5-year-old.
News Room visited the family’s house Friday and the conditions tell a tale of poverty as they shared a 12×5 ft room with a bed, a kerosene stove, and a basket of clothes – said to be all the woman owned.
The broken, faded walls are being held by small pieces of wood and zinc and a small curtain covering the only window.
Friends and family are still in disbelief at what happened.
Tresha Barry is a friend of Pera who helped to take the baby out of the pit latrine and transported him to the West Demerara Hospital.
Barry told News Room that earlier in the day, the woman complained of pain and passing blood but refused to go to the hospital and instead locked herself inside the room.
Barry said she and another friend – Ramona – kept checking on Pera and noticed the eldest daughter with a potty covered with a newspaper.
“I ain’t know wuh she dash inside de toilet,” Barry told News.
The baby was discovered inside the toilet by a 16-year-old boy who lives in the same yard; he was still alive at the time.
Barry and Pera rushed the child to the West Demerara Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
But Pera told Police that she went to the toilet to defecate and the baby fell out. Police also found a pair of scissors and bloody clothing under a bed in her apartment along with a bloody potty.
What appears to be the afterbirth was seen in a drain, Police said.
Talks of suicide
According to friends and family of Pera, she would often talk about ending her life.
“She always talk she story…she seh she gon buy [a] does poison [and] kill she self, me [sit down] talk to she, telling she don’t do it [and to take her children into consideration],” Barry told News Room.
Pera would normally receive help from friends and family in the neighbourhood to support her children since she did not receive assistance from their father.
The father of Pera’s two children has since taken them into his care.
She remains under police guard at the hospital.
