Boy, 10, hangs self

Dec 06, 2010 News

Using a black and white tie belonging to his older brother, 10-year-old Christopher Owen Bernard, a grade six student of St Paul’s Primary yesterday plunged his family into deep shock when he hung himself at his lot 65 South Better Hope, East Coast Demerara residence.
The discovery of Bernard’s body was made by his cousin around 5:30 yesterday afternoon.
At the time of his suicide, the child was said to have been home with his two older cousins aged 15 and 16.
The 16 year old who initially made the discovery said that, she is not sure what time Christopher actually hung himself because she and her other cousin were asleep.

The dead lad’s mother Vanessa Bernard struggles to control her emotions.

The teenager further detailed that when she awoke, she went into the hall and saw the lad hanging from the ceiling with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. He was wearing only a shirt and apparently had used a chair to commit the act.
According to the teenager, she instantly went to the kitchen and got a knife to cut the tie in an effort to save his life, “but he did already dead.” She then alerted her other cousin, landlord and neighbour.
One of the dead lad’s cousins recalled that, one of the last things they read to him was a plaque containing the words “If you were to die today, do you know without a doubt, that you would go to heaven with God to live forever?”
The neighbour recounted that through the window she last spotted Christopher jumping “up and down” in the chair. The neighbour recalled that she told him to stop. She said that usually, when she talks to him, he would respond to her warnings but this time he did not.
According to her, when she spoke to him, he sat on the windowsill and looked her in the face. The neighbour said that she then told him that she was going to inform his mother.
“I gon tell you mother. If you fall down from deh, wa gon happen?”
The neighbour said that at this point the child closed the window and continued to jump in the chair. But she had no idea what he was really trying to do.
The neighbour said that it is not until she heard what happen that “I put two and two together” and realize that the child was trying to get his head into the hole he had formed with the tie.
According to relatives, Christopher’s suicide probably stemmed from the fact that his only brother, who is 14 years old, was arrested by the police and locked up since Friday last. The teenager was allegedly locked up for stealing two cases of beverages.
Relatives related to this publication that, Christopher and his brother were “very close”; “they use to sleep together”. Relatives said that since his brother’s arrest, Christopher hardly slept and ceased eating. They said that the child constantly kept asking about his brother and when he was “coming back to me?”
With tears flowing down her face, his mother, Vanessa Bernard recalled that the last conversation she had with her son was about his brother. Bernard said that she asked the child if he wanted to “come with me to the station”.
She said that his response to her was, “I don’t want to go see him, I ain’t going to no station to see my brother, I want him to come back home to me.”
Vanessa, who is single, was the mother of two children.
According to Christopher’s class teacher, the lad was a B student who was full of potential.
The man said that Christopher was always present at school. He disclosed that on Friday last, Christopher had done a composition entitled, “If I had three wishes”, for his exam.
The teacher said that Christopher wished for betterment for his family. He said that the first wish was for his mother to own her own home.
Secondly, he wished for a car. The man said that he cannot remember what the third wish was but he knows it was related to the happiness of Christopher’s family. He said that the death of Christopher will definitely cause every one of his classmates to be unhappy. He said that the child was funny and had a free spirit.
Neighbours, friends and family who filled the home of the deceased, had purely good things to say about him. They said that he was pleasant and mannerly to everyone.
According to relatives, “he was all for his mother”. They said, “if Vanessa back hurt she, he rub it.”
“He was a totally loving child”.
Vanessa said that she cannot come to grips with what is going on. The distraught mother said that she cannot believe that “my baby is gone”, “he was happy. Why? Why?”