Lad stays away from funeral
NINE-year-old Jermaine Herod couldn't bear to view the charred remains of his eight relatives who perished in last week's tragic murder/suicide at Buxton, East Coast Demerara. So he stayed away from the burial yesterday of his father Raul Herod; his great-grandmother; Angela Herod; grandmother, Shirley Cole; brother, Rondell; sister, Nandy and three other relatives. From his bed at the Georgetown Hospital, his face stained with tears, Jermaine said: "I didn't want to go to the funeral, I want to go home." The boy said his aunt told him his brother and other relatives were being buried yesterday. He paused, and the tears began again. "My jaw is hurting me and no one come to see me today", he continued, as tears ran down his cheeks on to his pillow. When the Chronicle left the ward, Jermaine was hugging his pillow and almost asleep. A nurse in the ward said he was given medication for the pain and was being monitored by staff on duty. She also said the young patient was anxious to go home and confirmed the bullet was still lodged in his left side jaw. Doctors have not set a date for surgery, the nurse added. His father shot him during the massacre but Jermaine fled the house and hid at a neighbour. (AMANDA WILSON)
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