The damning evidence came during the first day of the coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Alexander and Deshawn Bassett Ingraham, 13. A third girl although severely burned, survived the October 26 blaze at the Fox Hill facility. Two others, who escaped, were caught two weeks later.
“She said, ‘I swear to God I didn’t do it. I didn’t start the fire,'” Dr. Pinder said.
“I handed it to a police officer. She was very well aware that the match was found on her,” the physician added.
The teenager, who according to her mother, Phyllis Bowe, was an aspiring veterinarian assistant, came to The Bahamas in summer 2002 from Miami to live with an aunt.
Dr. Pinder testified that Alexander was in critical condition immediately after the fire, with 35 to 40 percent burns about the body. She told the six-woman, one-man jury that the girl had to be incubated.
“She may have crashed on us,” Dr. Pinder said. “She may have stopped breathing on her own. She was given medication to sedate her….She came in talking and was alert when she came in the department, but that meant nothing to us because after suffering smoke inhalation, they can digress easily, hence incubation.”
Dr. Pinder added that although Alexander spoke to members of the medical team, her vocal chords were charred.
Earlier during proceedings, Pathologist Dr. Govinda Raju, confirmed that about 40 percent of Alexander’s body was burned.
Alexander’s mother became emotional while listening to the graphic details being revealed.
Dressed in black, including dark shades and black gloves, Ms. Bowe exclaimed, “Jesus!” as information emerged related to her only daughter’s condition before she died.
Coroner William Campbell and jurors learned that the girl’s body swelled due to an accumulation of fluid. Her skin had also peeled and there was blister formation, Dr. Raju said.
Dr. Raju also informed the court of Deshawn Bassett Ingraham’s physical condition.
According to the pathologist, the girl had second-degree burns with over 50 percent of her body scarred during the fire.
He said her skin was blackened, there was singeing at the scalp, her tongue was bitten and protruding from her mouth, in addition to her lips and eyes being swollen and lungs infected.
Medical Doctor, Melinda Brown, who was assigned to Ingraham during her time in the Accident and Emergency Department, said the teenager was combative.
“I assume it was because of the smoke inhalation,” Dr. Brown said. “She wasn’t verbally responsive as to where she was or who she was. I gave her pain medication, tetanus shots and she had to be incubated. She was incubated less than three minutes after arrival.”
Dr. Brown told the court that the following day, she wrote in a police report that she felt there was a possibility that Ingraham might die as a result of her injuries.
“With the extent of her burns and smoke inhalation, the likelihood of her survival was low,” Dr. Brown explained.
Additionally, during Monday’s proceedings, Alexander’s mother, spoke of her initial reaction to hearing of her daughter’s fate.
With a photo of her daughter pinned to her chest, Ms. Brown said, “I was in disbelief that a fire could break out at the school and injuries could hospitalize her. I was bewildered.”
She admitted that her daughter had been at the facility for about six months up to the time of the fire because she was rebellious.
The alleged plot by a few girls at the centre to escape went deadly wrong.
Questioned by Prosecutor, Inspector Bradley Neely, whether there was a plan to escape, a 15-year-old detainee of the centre said there had been a plan concocted by four of the girls.
Under cross-examination by Edward Turner, lawyer for the families of the two deceased girls, the witness said she saw another detainee with a match the day before the fire.
“She gone up on the bunk bed and got it from behind the wood,” the teenager said.
Asked whether or not she knew the match existed before then, the 15-year-old said, “no.”
She also testified to seeing the two escapees on the roof the night of the fire.
“So they were not there during the fire?” Mr. Turner asked.
“No sir”, said the teenager, adding that she spotted them about half an hour before the fire started.
Two separate girls, who also attempted to escape, reportedly were unsuccessful, as they were unable to jump over the barbed wire.
The coroner’s inquest continues on Tuesday.
By Hadassah Hall, The Bahama Journal
