Lisa Persaud, a single mother and teacher, is pleading for justice nearly a year after her 16-year-old son, Kaden Persaud, was attacked and left with severe head injuries in Kingelly, West Coast Berbice.
Kaden, a student of the Rosignol Secondary School, was beaten by two males, including a 15-year-old. The October 2024 assault left him with a gaping wound to the head which required 42 stitches and ongoing physical and emotional trauma.
An emotional Lisa spoke with the News Room on Tuesday about the toll the incident has taken on her son.
“My son is the one left suffering because since this incident has happened my son has become a very agitated person, he is withdrawn, he is no longer his jolly-happy self that he was prior to this incident,” Lisa explained.
According to Lisa, one week prior to her son being attacked, the 15-year-old was involved in a fight outside a math lesson in Rosignol.
“My son and other children were coming out of the lesson, my son ended up getting push down due to scuffle, so what the 15-year-old is claiming is that my son and him are village men and my son should have rendered assistance to him,” Lisa told the News Room.
A week later, while staying with his grandmother in Kingelly Village, Kaden was sent to collect bread from the front of the road and on his way, he encountered the 15-year-old and the other suspect.
“Now I don’t know if he [15-year-old] felt bad he get beat up or whatever, but the Saturday while he [Kaden] was walking he said he saw these two boys passing and turned back and came down the street towards him. He [Kaden] said he put his head down in his phone and he continued to walk, he said he wanted to laugh because he remembered the 15-year-old get beat up and the 15-year-old came up to him and started chucking him,” Lisa explained.
Lisa Persaud and her son Kaden
This escalated when the two males picked up a piece of wood and started to beat Kaden.
“They picked up a piece of wood and hit him thrice in the head and once across his back. They kicked him and left him there,” Lisa recounted.
Despite being in and out of consciousness, Kaden managed to stumble back to his grandmother’s house, where he collapsed and brought down a clothesline in the process. He was rushed to the hospital.
“He had a big hole in his head. He had to get 42 stitches,” Lisa said, her voice breaking.
“This is my baby, I would have worked very hard, I am a single parent, and I have been a teacher for the past 12 years. I would have worked very hard to bring up my son by myself, his father has never been a part of his life, has never given him anything. I am not ashamed to tell you that I struggled with my child and he is not a child that does give me headache, he don’t get into trouble,” Lisa continued.
Lisa said she has spent a lot of money to get her son proper healthcare, he had to undergo therapy and since the incident his life has not bene the same.
“He’s getting frequent headaches. He had to get spectacles. He’s withdrawn and struggling to understand why this happened to him. I’ve had to send him for counselling,” she explained.
Now, nearly a year later, Persaud is calling on the relevant authorities to intervene.
Acknowledging that the mother of the 15-year-old took him to the station, Lisa said the young boy has told many versions of what transpired.
“The boy has admitted that he beat my child and he is trying to make frivolous excuses as to why he beat my son.
“I am hoping that somebody can intervene on our behalf and my son can get justice, I am not saying throw the 15-year-old in jail, but if he can have this type of aggression at this age, it is clearly showing that he needs some help,” Lisa said.
She told the News Room that the file was sent to welfare and returned because of a missing birth certificate. She has since included the birth certificate.
“But the part that is sickening is the boy that is of the age to be charged, is walking free and nobody is doing anything about it, this has been going on for months,” an exasperated Lisa stated.
The post Months after beating left teen with 42 stitches, mother still pleads for justice appeared first on News Room Guyana.
