Trinidad: Two-year-old dies after sexual and physical abuse

The police are probing the death of a two year-old girl, who is suspected of being sexually and physically abused before she was taken to the Siparia hospital on Easter Sunday.



The dead toddler has been identified as Aaliyah Johnson.



According to the Trinidad Express, police officers have held a couple, who are being questioned in connection with the child's death.



It is reported that family members of the teenage girl and the 23-year-old man, who took Aaliyah to the Siparia District Health Facility told conflicting stories about the two people with whom Aaliyah would have spent her last moments.



Aaliyah shared a one-room, 10'x10' galvanise structure with her mother and the 23-year-old man, downstairs the home of Dhasia Ramjohn's house at Maria David Trace, San Francique, Penal.



The only furniture in the room is a three-foot-high makeshift bed which she shared. Aaliyah's clothing hung along a line around the closed structure.



It is reported that the home of the man and Aaliyah's residence since Carnival Monday, family members said a close female relative was abusive to the child and would threaten to kill her.



Pensioner Dhasia Ramjohn said the teen used to beat Aaliyah, who would often go without food or water and also remain locked in the room while the young woman went out.



Family members said Aailyah mingling with them and their children was an act the young woman disliked, and it was the young man who was left to care for the child.



Sharmatie Ramjohn said she was at home on Sunday night when she heard the teen say the child had fallen off the bed.



Sharmatie Ramjohn said the young woman was holding Aaliyah on her step, and she advised the teen to call the ambulance when she realised Aaliyah's hands and feet were cold.



Aaliyah was pronounced dead on arrival at the Siparia hospital.



At Marigold Drive, family members of the young woman painted a different picture.



"She loved that child too bad. She would never beat that child.... She always had the child with her," Victor Garcia said.



He said the teenager would always have trouble with her in-laws.



He said the young woman came to his home last week and was expected back on Easter Sunday. Instead, she called and told her family she was being beaten by a man.



He said the next message the family got was that Aaliyah had died. They said they had received no details about the child's death.



Penal police officers are continuing investigations.



Police say the child's body bore marks of violence and, sexual abuse.



An autopsy is expected to be conducted today.