Police are investigating the death of a 15-month-old boy who drowned in a shallow pond behind his Carenage home. Police said around 4 pm yesterday Kadeem Antoine wandered out of the family’s Constabulary Street home and went into the pond, which is about a foot to 18 inches deep. The child was found facedown in the pond and was taken to the St James Medical Centre where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Speaking with the media outside the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, the child’s mother, Jermmaine Noel, said she had planned to take Kadeem, her only child, to the Chaguaramas Boardwalk last night to see the “light-up” for Divali. Noel said her son loved looking through books and pointing at pictures pretending he was reading. She said he was smart and had a favourite red teddy bear he would take around.
The soft-spoken 23-year-old said her child never had wandered near the pond before. She said she began looking for him around 4.30 pm when she noticed he was missing. The search began around the house and then the road and eventually the backyard. At the time of the tragedy her mother-in-law, sister-in-law and her nephew were at home. The child’s father, Antonio Antoine, said he last saw Kadeem alive before 6 am before leaving for work in central Trinidad where he works as a mechanic. He said he would usually spend his early morning caring for Kadeem and did so the day he died. That was the highlight of his day, he said.