Mother after rescue of autistic girl, 5: 'Is God, hunters who save my child'

AN unexplained and unbelievable miracle that can only be the work of God is how Marina Murray, the mother of Jenysa Alleyne, summed up her daughter’s safe recovery on Saturday morning, some 12 hours after she was swept away by raging waters in the Carapal river, which runs at the back of her father’s home in Erin.

The recovery caused a national celebration among "prayer warriors" and random citizens who took to social media to pray for a positive outcome for the five-year-old, who has a diagnosis of  autism.

Because of her diagnosis, Jenysa could not cry out for help or alert anyone to her whereabouts in the desolate environment, inhabited by wild animals, snakes and caimans.

“Three years now my daughter is not talking, three years since my mother passed and my child was diagnosed with autism and my child could not even bawl out, ‘Mammy.’ Is only God and the search team, they were strong for me.”

Murray closed her eyes and clutched her stomach as she gave praise to God and the Hunters' Search and Rescue team, led by its captain Vallence Rambharat, who found Jenysa, alive in the water barely under her chin, holding on to some branches, four miles from her father’s home.

“To the whole of TT...prayed for my child, mothers who stayed up like me, hold their bellies and went down on their knees to pray for my child’s safe return.”

Rambharat said, “It is unbelievable. It is a miracle. She was in perfect condition, except for a few red marks on her face and scratches on her arms.

“She looked as though she was dressed to go out, the only exception was that she was wet,” Rambharat said as he tried to unravel this marvel.

“This is an event that rocked the nation. Something which has given this nation hope.”

Standing at the Daisy Voisin Hub, Siparia, opposite the district health facility where her sleep-deprived daughter was catching some winks after being treated, Murray recalled her faith wavered momentarily after learning of Jenysa’s disappearance.

“I made up my mind that I was going to get my child’s body. I went to the sea and told the sea to release my child body so I could bury my child.”

She said she also prayed along with thousands of people, known and unknown, “For her to hold on. I prayed for my child to be brave and strong. I prayed for my mother to send my daughter back and not take her at this time.

“The man (Rambharath) said, ‘I will bring back your child. Nothing wrong with you child. We will find she.'

“They made sure and let my child story be different, and they brought back my child.

“I am grateful to the rescue team. They never gave up. In the pouring rain they remained out there looking for my child. They said they were not leaving until they bring my child. They even tell me not to study if my child dead, that they bringing back my child alive for me.

“If you look at that video where my daughter was standing up in the water, up to here,” she said, pointing to her neck. “I don’t know how she survived.”

She explained that on Tuesday, Jenysa who lives with her in Maloney came to Erin to visit her father, Jason Alleyne, from whom she is separated.

“She was supposed to come back on Thursday, but the family said they don’t see my child and don’t know her and that she need to know her family, so I allowed the father the privilege to have his child."

She said she learned that around 5 pm on Friday, Jenysa was lying on the floor playing while her father took a bath, and in a split second, she disappeared.

An aunt explained Jenysa had been taken to the beach earlier in the week and that she loved the water.

Murray said she is not casting blame on Alleyne, “Because he loves his daughter. He would not do anything to hurt her.

“People who have special-needs kids know how their brain function. They snap and just move.

"It could have been anybody’s child. It is not like I am a 'wotless' mother and I wanted to go and party and wanted to go by a man and I just send my child away.

“No, my daughter came from Maloney to spend time with her father and grandmother, and then this happen. It could have been anybody’s child, but God showed up for mine.”

She called on the nation to come together and pray for innocent children and for crime to cease.

“Prayers move mountains, and we could do so much when we come together as a nation. We have to keep covering our children. This is a time we can’t afford to lose no more. Thank you, Lord.”

She prayed for the Hunters Search and Rescue Team, for God to keep them strong and for the Government to do something to assist with the work they are doing voluntarily.