http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Eye ... 05271.htmlEyewitness claims boy was jumping on table
Conflicting stories in fatal Tobago accident
By Renuka Singh and Elizabeth Williams
Story Created: May 13, 2013 at 9:25 PM ECT
Story Updated: May 13, 2013 at 10:18 PM ECT
CONFLICTING STORIES emerged yesterday surrounding the circumstances which led to Friday’s accidental death of a six-year-old boy at the Turtle Beach Hotel, Courland Bay, Scarborough, Tobago
A witness has come forward saying he saw the child, Eric Gittens, on top of the concrete table near the pool.
“The child was jumping on the concrete table and the mother of the child was warned repeatedly to remove the child from the table but no heed was taken. That was when tragedy struck,” the witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
However, a close friend of the Gittens family said the concrete table fell off its pedestal when the child placed his hands on the table in an attempt to get up.
“The child and his mother were sitting at the table having afternoon tea, Eric put his hands on the table to get up and the table broke and flipped on him,” the family friend said during a telephone interview.
The family friend, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, yesterday called for more vigilance at Turtle Beach Hotel in Tobago.
Eric Gittens was crushed by a concrete table top that broke off and fell on his head near the pool at the resort last Friday.
In a telephone interview yesterday, the friend described the family as “traumatised” and “distraught” over the loss of their young son.
Mother, Susan Gittens, 47, also has another son, four-year-old Evan, who was not on the trip, according to the family friend.
According to police reports, around 5 p.m. on Friday, Eric, a first year pupil of St Andrews Prep School in Maraval, was around the poolside of the hotel kneeling on a chair when a concrete slab flipped up from the table, struck him to his head, pinning him to the ground.
The family friend said Eric was pinned under the concrete slab and while his screaming mother tried unsuccessfully to move it.
“Another hotel guest, a big guy, helped the mother move the table top and even attempted to give Eric mouth to mouth,” he said.
He said Eric was taken to the Scarborough General Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
“They said he died from blunt head trauma,” he said.
He said when he visited the hotel, it was business as usual. The broken table was leaned up along one wall and children were playing around it as if nothing had happened.
“This even though the police asked that they move the tables, the hotel has not,” he said.
The family friend said the hotel has been in contact with the family, but he was not sure what, if anything, came from that.
He said the family was not considering legal options just yet as they were “still trying to cope” with the loss of their child.
The hotel’s general manager, Leslie Amedee, in an interview yesterday, described the incident as “an unfortunate one”.
“The focus needs to be at this time on the well-being of the family. As a hotel we have offered counseling to the family, and whatever we can assist them with we have been accommodating. I have been in contact with the mother Susan Gittens every day since the incident, “Amedee said.
Amedee said he was exiting his office last Friday when he heard the commotion.
“A guest ran to me saying to call the ambulance, and I did, but emergency officials never arrived till half hour after being called. They, however, assisted over the phone in giving directions as to what should be done in their absence. One guest assisted in performing CPR to the child,” Amedee said.
Amedee said the hotel will in no way speculate on the matter and the circumstances surrounding it.
He said the child was observed having fun with members of staff around the pool area before the incident, and the table which toppled crushing the child remained upright since 2004, before it fell.
Amedee said: “Since 2004, these tables around the pool area have been stationed there and were never moved. All the necessary checks have always been made to ensure our equipment is safe.
“The pool attendant was nearby before the incident occurred. When the incident occurred and (mother) Susan Gittens screamed for help, approximately three persons had to help in raising the toppled table from the child.”
A visit by the Express to the hotel yesterday revealed similar tables around the pool areas of the hotel.
An autopsy performed on Sunday around 1.30 p.m. by pathologist Dr Eslyn McDonald- Burris revealed the child died as a result of skull and brain injury, consistent with blunt trauma.
The autopsy was performed at the Scarborough General Hospital and was witnessed by father of the child Peter Gittens and friend of the family, attorney Daniel Solomon.
