Senior Reporter
dareece.polo@guardian.co.tt
The horrific murder of four-year-old Amarah Lallite, who was beheaded in Arouca on April 9, shocked the Prime Minister even as he vacationed in Europe.
Dr Keith Rowley addressed the incident for the first time yesterday at a post-Cabinet media briefing at Whitehall. He flew to Ireland along with his wife, Sharon, and a few friends on April 2. Amarah was killed four days before they returned.
However, the Prime Minister noted that distance did not dull the sadness he felt when he woke up to learn of the tragedy.
“I was in Ireland when I saw that and it shook me quite there,” he said.
“I just could imagine the horror of having to experience that and even though I wasn’t here in Trinidad and Tobago, that was a bad day for me,” he continued.
The child’s death resonated across a nation plagued by crime prompting a wave of support. Only on Monday, scores of people took part in a candlelight vigil in Arouca to honour Amarah’s life.
News of her cause of death only added to the woe. An autopsy revealed she died from blunt force trauma to the head and decapitation.
The child’s father, Shannon Lallite, told Guardian Media the toddler was missing an eye, her lips were cut open and her face had what appeared to be multiple stab wounds.
Her stepfather, Isan Contant, is currently undergoing a psychiatric evaluation at the St Ann’s Hospital after being charged in connection with her murder.
However, Prime Minister Rowley noted that this incident was not isolated, as it underscored some of the biggest problems plaguing Trinidad and Tobago.
“These things are not individual, these are national disasters, and I don’t know... we going after guns to prevent them from shooting people; you kill somebody with a cutlass, with a knife, choke somebody to death, give them poison. It is the whole idea of our inhumanity that is being examined here and unfortunately, violence seems to have become an ever-present part of our existence. Violence, every little thing, the response is violence. That is what we need to get to the root of,” he said.
The funeral service for Amarah will take place tomorrow at the Faith Assembly in Arouca from 11 am.