Imam reflects on death of Palo Seco girl, 7: Mckenzie in Creator’s hands

The Claxton Bay imam who alerted the police to the strangling death of seven-year-old Mckenzie Hope Rechier in Palo Seco on Friday night believes the “creator has his hands over the situation.”

Newsday spoke to Yasin in Pranz Gardens near the area where the 25-year-old detained suspect had spoken to him about the death. The unemployed woman, a close relative of the girl, was still in custody on Sunday evening.

The imam did not give his full name, nor did he want to provide details of the incident. He said the police had interviewed him earlier and he had given them “all the information” he had.

“I did my part,” he said.

He said it was not the first time she came for help as many people visit the masjid for help with different things.

“Anyone can come here for help. We help people once it is within our means and once it is nothing illegal. As you can see, we are not rich people, but we still help. We could not help in this case. The child was already dead. So we passed on the information to the police,” Yasin said.

He added that the masjid has been helping people for over 20 years. The masjid is a complete structure on a hill overlooking a forested area in Pranz Gardens.

From what relatives were told, the suspect had a hefty meal before meeting Yasin on Friday night. The friend, 40, from La Brea, who took her to meet him, had bought her a KFC meal, soup, and ice cream, as she requested.

“She had all of that before heading to meet the imam,” a close relative said.

Cpl Aguillera and WPC Monsegue of the Santa Flora station found the girl’s body on Saturday around 12.05 pm at home, an incomplete wooden shack, at 7 Road Extension in Palo Seco.

The body was wrapped with a curtain on a mattress. The building does not have electricity or pipe-borne water and is in a forested area reached by a muddy track.

The police said the suspect reported that she left the girl alone at about 4 pm on Friday. She went to a supermarket with the friend and he bought her a few items and a KFC meal.

Police said she asked the friend to take her to visit her imam. He complied, and they met Yasin at around 10.20 pm.

Yasin accompanied the woman and the friend to the shack, where they saw the child’s body in a foetal position. The body had marks on the right side of the neck and the child’s face was swollen.

Mckenzie’s grandmother Brenda Persad, 47, said the suspect battled depression after her two-month-old son died from bronchitis and a lung infection in 2016.

In 2017, the now-detained woman spent 14 days in the psychiatric ward of the San Fernando General Hospital.

Persad said the baby boy’s father was living in the Claxton Bay area.

Asked about Mckenzie’s father, Persad had some harsh words about the man, who is believed to be from Point Fortin.

“He was absent and was never a part of the girl’s life,” Persad said.

She accused him of giving Mckenzie’s mother “a belly and never came back and looked for her.”

The grandmother said she took the slack and helped care for her grandchild.

One of the suspect’s neighbours, Michelle Alexander, said: “One of the things that shocked us is that she never ill-treated the child as far as we know. She gave the child the best of the best. Only a few weeks ago, she stopped taking care of herself. Mckenzie often came to my house and played with my children.”

About three weeks ago, Alexander said, the suspect said, “We would not be here soon.”

Consulted for comment, an expert in children’s care with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in social work shared their views on the situation with Newsday.

“Seeing signs of depression in this young woman does not mean that they could have prevented or predicted that she would do what she did.

“It seems that she was crying out for help and had also been grieving,” said Newsday’s source, who has over ten years' experience in social work involving children.

“She would have had this child at 18 and may have been overwhelmed and out of her depth since then. She is young, living in poverty, and under great pressure.

“But if she had not behaved drastically before, predicting such drastic behaviour is almost impossible outside of hindsight.”

The source added that people in the suspect’s life are not to blame for her actions or choices. In terms of getting help, ther source said there were few options for people who cannot afford it outside the public health system.

They said signs of depression included: no appetite or overeating, not sleeping or refusing to get out of bed, poor personal hygiene,and a lack of desire to do anything.

Newsday asked, given the level of poverty that the suspect and the child were living in, would those be circumstances that would normally trigger an intervention by the Children’s Authority or the Child Protection Unit of the police? Do friends/family have a duty to report those types of circumstances to authorities?

In response, the source said, “Poverty is not normally a reason to remove children unless there is neglect. The Child Protection Unit is for criminal offences against a child.

“If there was neglect and neighbours witnessed then they should have reported, but neglect is not poverty.

“Signs of neglect would be leaving the child alone in the house with no supervision or the child begging in the community for food. Those things would have been a reason to call the Children’s Authority.”

Homicide Bureau Region III police are leading investigations.

Anyone who needs help can call Lifeline (24-hour hotline) at 800-5588, 231-2824 or 220-3636

In case of an emergency (attempted suicide), people can call 990, 811, or 999.