Nine year old orphan dies in vehicular accident in children’s home compound

Last Updated on Sunday, 25 December 2016, 21:39 by Denis Chabrol

A nine-year old orphan died early Christmas morning as a result of a vehicular accident in the compound of the Alpha Children’s  Home at Gay Park, Providence, New Amsterdam Berbice, a top official of the institution said.

Dead is Nina Blair.

Founder of the Alpha Children’s Home, Esther Bruyning told Demerara Waves Online News that an orphan, whose is believed to be about 17 years old, pressed the accelerator instead of the brake to stop the car that he was driving without permission.

The incident occurred at about 2PM Saturday.

She said the vehicle slammed into a stump wall and it fell on Blair who was playing on a patio. She sustained serious head injuries and was rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital. Blair was transferred to the Georgetown Hospital where she died shortly after midnight Saturday.

Bruyning said the teenage boy has been detained at the New Amsterdam Police Station as investigations continue during a period of 72 hours. She hopes that investigators do not mistreat the boy. “He is very devastated. He is sitting there at the station assisting with investigations.

It is my hope that they don’t treat him like a criminal. He is a child,” she said.

Bruyning explained that the lad entered the car, which belongs to the Alpha Children’s Home, on his own and began driving. “He didn’t have any permission to drive it. He just took it up on his own,” she said.

The Alpha Children’s Home official explained that the key stuck in the ignition since last Thursday and she had planned to take the vehicle to a mechanic.

Bruyning said the exact age of the boy is unknown and no one can locate his relatives. His parents are deceased, and he has been living there since he was a baby.