Mother agonizes over daughter’s mysterious death

Sep 09, 2009 News

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Shabera Archer was in Trinidad when she was informed of her 10-year old daughter Marcia Barran’s death. To say that she was shocked is putting it mildly.
Archer had left her three daughters Marcella, 12, Marcia and seven-year old Melissa with their father and as far as she knew they were in good health.
In fact she or her mother would make contact with them everyday and there was no sign of any of them being ill.
So obviously the fateful call on August 29, last, stunned Archer to say the least.
She left for home with all expectations that the questions she had in her mind about her daughter’s death would be swiftly answered and she would soon be able to close that chapter of her life and return to Trinidad.
But that was not to be.
Her daughter has already been buried and suspicions still linger on Archer’s mind as to what caused her daughter’s death.
The post mortem result was inconclusive and coupled with visual evidence of bruises about little Marcia’s body, doubts and accusations have become the order of the day for Archer.
Additionally, the woman informed that her queries to the police appear to be too late, prompting her to believe that there might be some cover-up.
In an exclusive interview with this newspaper, Archer recalled that after several years of living with her abusive reputed husband at Seawell, Corentyne, Berbice, she decided that she could take no more and eventually moved out.
She took her youngest daughter, Melissa with her, reluctantly leaving Marcella and Marcia with their father.
She soon landed a job in Trinidad approximately two years ago and since she had no other source of earning a living here in Guyana she left for the Twin-Island Republic alone.
Archer worked hard, hoping one day to send money for her children to be with her.
“On the 29th August, last, I was sleeping in bed when one of my relatives call me and they tell me that me daughter dead. I was in shock because I can’t really call them everyday. I does call them on weekends. My mother told me that she spoke to my daughter the day before she died and Marcia was strong,” Archer told this newspaper.
She immediately booked a flight to Guyana and returned home.
“I made a healthy child and when I left she was healthy. She had no complaints,” the woman added.
She said when she contacted her husband, he told her that her daughter had complained of a headache when he returned from work on August 29th.
However, he had spoken to her that morning, and she appeared to be okay.
The child was left with her grandparents and later that day she fell into a coma.
She was rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital where she was admitted.
Since there were strange marks on the child’s body, questions were asked of her father and grandmother as to how she became ill so suddenly.
But so severe was her condition that she was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital but died before she could receive treatment there.
According to Archer, the pathologist who performed the post mortem indicated that he had observed a blood clot in the child’s skull.
“He said that that could have caused the death but he could not be too sure. He said that he could not confirm it until he did some tests.”
Archer indicated that samples from her daughter’s body were taken but as far as she knew, up to yesterday they were still lying at a funeral parlour in Berbice.
She is concerned that they may be contaminated before any findings can be obtained.
She believes that the police have been foot-dragging on the matter which she strongly believes “is not a simple, normal death”.
“We get to understand that we have to get a police to bring the samples to Georgetown. We have to pay the passage and everything and if we don’t do that, after 14 days they will throw it (the samples) away. Nobody is looking into the matter, it’s only me,” Archer lamented.
Like any mother, whose concern for their children is beyond question, Archer began seeking other avenues to find out what led to her daughter’s death.
She had observed several marks on her daughter’s body when she went to dress her daughter for the funeral.
Her suspicions grew even more when she questioned the child’s grandmother about the black and blue marks which were seen between the child’s legs, her buttocks, her stomach and behind her neck.
“I confronted them about the marks on her skin and the grandmother told me that it was Ole Higue. I left stupid. I say Ole Higue can’t do that because it woulda lef small round marks. The post mortem finished the morning and my husband’s relatives were actually in a hurry to bury her the very afternoon. They done prepare everything,” Archer stated.
She said the child’s father also appeared indifferent to what had happened.
“He tell me de child done dead and bury, if I want fuh do anything, I must spend money and do it. But I ain’t get money. I struggling hard.”
The still bewildered mother said that she had not seen the police after the post mortem of her daughter.
Yesterday, Archer visited the Central Police Station at New Amsterdam where she spoke to a senior official.
She informed that the official indicated that it was too late to do anything to reopen the investigation.
She is worried that she may not be able to ascertain how her daughter died before she returns to Trinidad.
This newspaper contacted the Acting Commander of the Police Force’s Berbice Division yesterday and he advised that Archer should make urgent contact with him so that he can examine the case and have it reviewed, if necessary.

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