Father feeds children dumplings and lanateMonday, April 14 2008
A father, who on Saturday night fed his two children, aged 11 and 9, a meal of dumpling and pigtail soup laced with lanate, died after drinking the weedicide himself at their home in Rikki Trace, Ravine Sable in Longdenville Sharma Siechan, a 38-year-old truck driver committed suicide but not before lacing the pot of soup with lanate and feeding it to his two children, Sarah Keisha Siechan and her brother, Sean Siechan.
The children are said to be in a stable condition at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.
According to police reports, Siechan made a pot of dumpling and pigtail and doused it with the weedicide lanate.
Siechan, police said, gave his two children a plate each of the deadly concoction, and dished out a serving for himself. During that time, police said he ingested some of the weedicide straight from the bottle and died at their home during the night.
The deceased and his two children lived in a small part of a huge abandoned automotive warehouse near the sand pits. Part of the roof was leaking, the stench was almost unbearable and the living conditions were horrid.
Siechan’s father 63-year-old, Bharat Siechan told Newsday that the children went over to the neighbour’s house early yesterday morning and complained that they were feeling unwell. The neighbour called the police immediately and Sarah and Sean, who are both pupils of the Longdenville Government Primary School, were rushed to the EWMSC at Mt Hope.
However, by the time police arrived, the children’s father was already dead.
“My grandson and grand-daughter went by the neighbour and she called the police,” he said, adding that he was in the garden when he got the tragic news.
“I am not sure how much the children eat out of the soup. One minute I hearing is only my grandson who ate out of the soup, but the two children are at the hospital,” Siechan said.
It is still unclear how much of the poisoned meal the children have ingested. Their mother, Atwaria Siechan, was with them yesterday at the emergency department of the hospital but doctors are said to be keeping a close eye on them.
The older Siechan said the couple had domestic problems and Atwaria moved out one month ago.
“Both of them have been having problems. Man and woman does make their own problem,” the children’s grandfather said. Showing off his grand children’s test results from school books and projects, a saddened Siechan said his son needed help to combat his drug problem. “He used to sit with those children and make sure they learn their school work, look at these marks in the books, they were bright children,” he said.
“The girl just finished sitting the SEA exam and she will pass for a top school. He had a good relationship with his children, he encouraged them to do their work,” he said.
Relatives are hoping that the children survive the ordeal. “They are alive but we do not know if they are out of danger yet,” one aunt said in a brief telephone conversation.
