Baby drowns in water bucket - 4-month-old falls from bed into container with water

For the past week, life for Mary* has been nothing but constant grief and turmoil, as the 18-year-old mourns the accidental death of her four-month-old daughter last Friday.

"Right now I just feel depressed, she was my everything," the grieving woman told THE WEEKEND STAR. On July 5, just two days after the passage of Hurricane Beryl, Mary explained that the rural community where she was staying with her child's father was left without water. As a result, her daughter's father placed half a bucket of water next to the bed, which was to be used to flush the toilet in the adjoining bathroom. However, Mary did not know that the bucket was there. She placed her daughter on the bed and used pillows to try and keep her hemmed in. She then went outside to catch some water from a standpipe, but when she returned, she could not find the infant.

"When mi guh inna the room mi never see her, suh mi ask har father, 'Yuh take up the baby?' Him seh no, suh mi guh back and mi see the pillow on the ground and when I picked it up, I stepped in the water and when I look, I found her [upside down] in the bucket of water with her feet shaking," she said. Mary said that she rushed her daughter to the hospital, but less than an hour later she died.

"Right now mi nuh know, nothing don't feel the same. Life nuh feel the same, every day mi miss her, like mi still cah believe wah happen. Mi just cah believe seh she gone," Mary said.

She said that although she got pregnant at the age of 17, and felt that she was unprepared for motherhood, she wanted the best life for her daughter.

"She was my motivation, because mi just did want fi duh the best for her and make her proud of me," Mary said. "Honestly, mi can barely eat or sleep. Is like mi just nuh know weh fi duh wid mi self." Mary said that she is also uncertain about what consequences she may face.

However, Commanding Officer for the Portland Police Division, Superintendent Lloyd Darby, told THE WEEKEND STAR that the police are currently investigating the baby's death and have yet to determine if criminal charges should be filed.

*name changed to protect identity