Mother at drowned toddler's funeral: 'Allon, why you leave me?'

Hugging the tiny coffin which carried the remains of three-year-old Allon Ramdial, his weeping mother repeatedly questioned him for "leaving" her.

"Why, Allon? Allon, why you leave me?" Christinna Ramdial, 19, said between sobs on Saturday at the small funeral.

The closed-coffin funeral was held in a shed in the Ortoire Cemetery in Mayaro.

During the service, the young bereaved mother held a croton plant adorned with a green bow. She also held on to one of Allon’s short pants. She broke down several times and even kissed the photo that was placed on top of the coffin.

The toddler who lived with his mother and stepfather Carlton Murphy near the river at the Ortoire Village fishing port was reported missing on the morning of December 9. It sparked a massive search which included the Hunters Search and Rescue Team (HSRT), led by Vallence Rambharat, police, Coast Guard and other people.

On December 12 at around 11.40 am, Allon's decomposing body was found at a cove at the mouth of the Ortoire River in Mayaro.

Pastor Mervyn Rodriguez told mourners that God is good even in the circumstances of Allon's death.

In every experience that God allows to manifest, there is a lesson to be learned.

The lessons, many times, are for specific people.

Rodriguez called on mourners to keep the hope that God is in control.

"We could be here today and gone today. One minute our brother was here, and the next, he was gone but God is good," Rodriguez said.

"He left this earth before he was contaminated by the world. He died in his innocence with no sins. This is just his mortal remains. His spirit has gone back to God."

The pastor added that death is inevitable and no one knows when their time will be.

With Christmas Day on Sunday, Rodriguez said he knows there might have been plans to buy toys for Allon.

Rodriguez added, "Instead, we are saying goodbye. While some parents are shopping for toys, some are in the hospitals, some in the morgues and we are here. God's plans are always perfect. We may not understand it, but it is perfect."

He told mourners that two words people must never live with are "if only."

If only, he said, are words that represent regret.

"When you have the opportunity to do something, do it. Do not take life for granted," he said.

He said husbands and wives should not take each other for granted, likewise parents and children.

"Some old fruits stay long on a tree to fall. The young ones are falling, leaving the old ones," Rodriguez said.

Mayaro MP Rushton Paray thanked all those who help searched for Allon. He offered condolences on his behalf, his constituency, and the Social Development and Family Services minister, Donna Cox.

"The circumstance under which Allon died speaks of a bigger picture of how young people, as well as homeless people, are being dealt with in the country."

He pledged to continue helping the bereaved family. Mayaro police were also at the funeral.