Child drowns, 19-year-old woman investigated

A 19-year-old woman is the subject of an investigation by officers of the Western Division and the Homicide Bureau Region 1, after a two-year-old child Isialia Sterling wandered too close to the shore at Williams' Bay, Chaguaramas yesterday and drowned.

Sources said the woman took Isialia and another 2-year-old relative to the beach at around 4 pm, when she turned her back to Isialia briefly to tend to the other child. The woman told officers after turning back around, she saw Isialia's small body floating on the surface of the water and raised an alarm.

Nearby beachgoers brought Isialia's body back to shore where a Coast Guard ambulance took her to the St James District Medical Facility, where doctors failed to resuscitate her.

Newsday understands the woman who is from Quarry Road, San Juan is being investigated by the police, who are awaiting instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions on whether she will be charged with negligence.