Autopsy on 8-year-old girl raises concerns - Children's Advocate

A bombshell is expected to drop by mid September, as the Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA) will release their findings and recommendations from their in-depth analysis and investigation surrounding the death of eight-year-old Port Henderson Primary student, Kemeisha Butler.

Information reaching THE WEEKEND STAR is that feathers are expected to ruffle and there is a possibility that someone might be held responsible for the grade two student's death.

The young child died at the Bustamante Hospital for Children on March 8. The cause of her death to date has been shrouded in controversy.

Based on information received by THE WEEKEND STAR, an autopsy has revealed that Kemeisha had a brain tumour. Our news team understands, however, that the survival rate for persons with such an illness is 80 per cent.

According to Kemeisha’s parents, their daughter, prior to her death, told them that she was told to stand and look up in the sun with her hands held upwards as punishment by a specific male teacher.

The teacher in question was sent on leave shortly after Kemeisha’s death, as an investigation was launched into the circumstances surrounding the death of the child to determine whether or not her illness and subsequent death was attributable to curricular activities.

The Butler's tragedy came to the fore after THE WEEKEND STAR broke the story on March 29, when Nesha and Stephen Butler asked the general public for assistance to bury their daughter.

Kemeisha was eventually laid to rest on May 29, but the parents are yet to know the exact cause of death.

Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison spoke to our news team yesterday and confirmed that her office has several documents in hand which were derived from their investigation.

“We conducted our investigation in the matter and requested the post mortem, other documents and reports which have been obtained," she said.

When asked if any if the findings were troubling, Gordon Harrison said, “They are of concern.”

Gordon Harrison told our news team that the OCA has embarked on their in-house analysis to make the relevant recommendations in short order.

As to when it would be made public, Gordon Harrison said, “We are trying for mid September. That’s in another three to four weeks.”

When THE WEEKEND STAR spoke to the Butlers yesterday, they said they were yet to get a copy of the autopsy report. Instead, they said the Bustamante Hospital for Children instructed them to visit the OCA.

“We still grieving. We can’t get nothing all now and we are her parents. Something go wrong am telling you. If something never go wrong them wouldn’t a think so hard fi give we the autopsy,” Stephen Butler said.

When told by THE WEEKEND STAR that recommendations will be made by the OCA soon, he said, “We want the truth. Make us comfortable. Relieve us of the stress. We still have two more children and we struggling to send them back to school. God is watching and him a see everything. The truth must reveal.”