Another freak accident in Grenada has resulted in the loss of life of a 12-year student of the Presentation Brother’s College (PBC) in St. George.
Dead is Joshua Baldeo who was living in Willis in the St. George North-east constituency.
His death came five days after 52-year old St. David’s farmer, Vivian “Buck” Felix lost his life last Sunday when a tree that he was cutting fell and pinned him to the ground in Felix Park in St. Andrew South-east.
A family member told THE NEW TODAY that Joshua got entwined in a net that he was swinging on from a hammock inside the house.
He said that an autopsy is planned for Monday to determine the cause of death as the body was found tied up within the net.
He stated that a younger brother, aged five, who witnessed the incident provided police investigators with a statement about the incident.
According to the family member, the PBC student did not fall and break his neck as is being reported in some quarters.
“He didn’t fall. The little 5-year old said that he was swinging in the hammock and he go to slide off and the hammock tied him up. The child tried to cut the rope – he say that his hand wasn’t strong enough to cut the rope so he call, call and a young man came and cut it”.
The incident happened just before 4.00 p.m. yesterday while the father was still at work at Hubbard’s’ Lumber yard in the city.
Asked if the 12-year old was already dead when the hammock was cut to rescue him, he said, “The child said that (he was dead) – he’s a little 5-year old – you know little children don’t lie, they will say exactly what they see”.
THE NEW TODAY understands that both parents were in a state following the tragedy and that the father fainted at least twice during a visit to the hospital to see the body of his son.
The family member said the sad thing is that the grandmother and aunts and uncles are now living in Canada and will not be able to fly into Grenada to attend Joshua’s funeral due to the ban just imposed on international flights by the government in Ottawa in its efforts to grapple with rising coronavirus cases.
Joshua would have celebrated his 13th birthday on Monday.
His mother lost her job due to lay-offs on the island as private sector business activities took a hard hit due to Covid-19.
The family was struck by another tragedy a few years ago when a young member complained of pain in his head and shortly after collapsed and died.