After two years, Jemilia Forde received the first step towards justice when a pre-school teacher appeared in court on Wednesday charged with manslaughter, arising out of her daughter’s drowning at a public pool.
Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Forde, a manager at a casino, said although nothing could bring her daughter back, there was some glimmer of hope, knowing someone had been made accountable for her daughter’s death.
Jemimah Agard, five, drowned moments after a swimming lesson at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) pool, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.
According to reports, Agard, of Rose Hill, Laventille, who attended Sharon’s Nursery School, Woodbrook, was part of a class which went to the YMCA for swimming lessons on June 16, 2014 between 9 am and 10 am.
After the class ended and the children went to change, little Jemimah reportedly asked to use the toilet and was allowed to do so.
After some time the teachers noticed the child was missing and began searching for her.
She was found at the bottom of the pool in the deep end, fished out and was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) before being rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where she died.
Euralia Thomas, appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar on Wednesday charged with manslaughter and wilful neglect.
Thomas, 56, was granted $75,000 bail and the matter adjourned to August 17.
Yesterday, Forde said since her child’s death, her days have been filled with tears and sleepless nights, not just by her but other relatives.
She said she did not know how to feel about a teacher at the school being held criminally culpable for her child’s death.
“It has been challenging since her death. I have been getting sick but doctors say there is nothing physically wrong with me.
“Everyday I cry for her. Seeing parents on mornings with their children is extra hard. Only last week doctors gave me sleeping tablets.
“It takes only a second for an incident to happen. Be more observant, receiving a phone call like that is...,” Forde said before she began crying.
She recalled her daughter being very active in her womb but was the complete opposite when she was born. She described her child as a “cry-cry baby” who was obedient and respectful.
Forde said he daughter “wanted to dress up in a suit and go to work. She wanted to work in an office she used to tell me.
“All I wanted was for her to be successful and do better than me. I did not want her working at a casino like me,” adding she no longer want to have any more children.