Nine months after his charred, dismembered body was found in the ruins of his home, 14-year-old Darian Nedd was finally laid to rest yesterday.
In an interview before the funeral, Darian's pregnant mother Christine Nedd said she will give birth to her baby next March during the death anniversary of her teenaged son.
"It will be bitter joy. I cannot have another child like Darian. There will only be one Darian, so I do not plan to name the baby after my son. There is nobody who will ever replace my son," Nedd said.
It was only on November 29 that Darian's remains were released from the Forensic Science Centre in St James and given to the family after DNA analysis confirmed it was him. However, Christine said the autopsy was inconclusive so she still does not know how her child died.
"All I could do is speculate. Every day it is hard coming to terms that he will never be with us, but I am thankful that we could give him a funeral today," Nedd added. The distraught mother and her five other children have erected a shrine where Darian was murdered. They have planted flowers and placed ornaments around a photo of him where a candle and a kerosene light remains ignited every night.
"We want to remember him. He was only 14 and I wanted him to have a good life. He had just started to get a little hair on his face and he was getting very handsome. He grew up here and everyone loved him," Christine said. The hearse carrying Darian's remains went through the narrow bumpy track where he lived in a wooden house with his family. The track was decorated with pink balloons. Following a service at Belgroves, the remains were incinerated at the funeral home in San Fernando.
Darian, a Form One student of Siparia East Secondary School, had gone into hiding before his death. His body was found around 12.30 am on March 20, amid the ruins of a wooden house. His right foot and left hand were missing. It is uncertain whether his limbs were chopped off and whether he was still alive when the house was set on fire.
His neighbour Roger Ragoopat was charged for the murder and the matter is being heard at the Siparia Magistrates' Court.