KEVON FELMINE
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
Three days after relatives said goodbye to nine-month-old Salileen Ramsaroop, a New Grant woman will stand before the Princes Town Magistrates’ Court to answer for killing the baby.
Sgt Ramdial of the Tableland Police Station charged the 30-year-old relative of the baby with manslaughter on Friday. The charge followed advice from Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions George Busby.
Investigators said that around 12.20 pm on September 21, the suspect allegedly fed Salileen Malathion insecticide through a syringe, claiming she was frustrated at the child’s crying. The suspect said she laid Salileen on the bed and she became unresponsive. Another relative tried chest compression on the child while they awaited an ambulance. The ambulance took Salileen to the Princes Town District Health Facility, where the suspect allegedly confessed to poisoning the child.
The staff of the Health Facility transferred the baby to the San Fernando General Hospital, where she died around 6.30 pm. Tableland police responded to a report of the child’s poisoning and took custody of a baby bottle and a 250 ml bottle of Malathion from a relative's home. Police also took the suspect into custody.
An autopsy at the Forensic Science Centre in Port-of-Spain revealed that Salileen died from pulmonary oedema, a build-up of fluid in the lungs, causing breathing difficulty.