Young man who rushed child to hospital, angry with mother

Marlon ‘Baw’ Hendrickson, the man who rushed a newborn baby to the Health Clinic in Chateaubelair after it was fished from a latrine pit in Fitz-Hughes Village, thinks that the person responsible for dumping the child should be charged for murder.

Hendrickson is also encouraging persons who give birth to children that they do not want, to turn them over to the authorities, so that they can be put up for adoption.{{more}}

“There are plenty people out there that want children to take care of, so don’t kill them. Leave them at the hospital or something. There are plenty people who can’t make children and want children,” Hendrickson said on Monday via telephone from his hometown of Fitz-Hughes.

Last week Wednesday, September 14, residents of Fitz-Hughes found a baby in an outside toilet pit, after a young child heard crying and alerted adults, who then found the newborn, umbilical cord still attached.

The rescue of the baby was filmed by Hendrickson and others. The video was posted on social media site Facebook and Hendrickson’s voice could be clearly heard in the video giving instructions to fellow villagers and condemning the person who, he alleges, threw the child away.

According to the still angry man, he and some friends were hanging out on Wednesday when a young lady came and told them that a child was discovered in a pit.

Hendrickson said that at first he and his friends did not believe, but ended up going to an area of Fitz-Hughes known as ‘CDC,’ where they saw a crowd of persons.

He said that when he realized that a child was in the pit, he pushed off the housing and removed the latrine seat, but he was too big to fit into the hole, so he began yelling instructions and the child was eventually rescued and wrapped in a towel.

He said that when the child was taken out of the pit, faeces was on the head, but the body and face were clean. Hendrickson took the child and ran to the main road, where he found a ride and took the child to the hospital.

On arrival at the hospital, Hendrickson, who is the father of a two-year-old boy, met four nurses, one of them a midwife. He handed over the child to the nurses and went back to Fitz-Hughes, where he asked persons to donate some clothing. When he returned to the clinic, a doctor was tending to the child and soon after the woman, who is alleged to have birthed the child, was brought to the clinic, as she had fainted in the street.

The two were rushed to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) in Kingstown and while the woman, who is alleged to have given birth to the child was released from the hospital over the weekend, the child died on Sunday.

“This thing make me feel real bad. This is the first time I ever experience anything like that. I mean something like this happened when I was small, but this is the first time I seeing this happen in a physical form,” said Hendrickson, who sees the child’s dumping as murder and wickedness.

“That is an innocent life you just take there. That could be me or you,” stressed Hendrickson, while offering, “if you having sex, protect yourself, if you end up pregnant, give up for adoption… plenty people want children”.

The young man said that he has seen the person who is alleged to have dumped the child back in the village “like normal” and while she is being embraced by her family, a number of persons are not pleased and are being harsh to her.

In response to persons saying that the alleged dumper is mentally unstable, Hendrickson commented, “I never know she as crazy. I know she does drink plenty rum, she love rum, but I don’t know if she crazy.”

The 29-year-old man, apart from making his feelings felt to SEARCHLIGHT, also appeared on Hot 97.1 FM’s ‘Afternoon Kick Out’ with Tedra ‘TK’ Kirby on Monday afternoon.