In memory of Mariah – Family to mark birthday of murdered teen on All Saint’s Day

News Rishard Khan 17 Hrs Ago

Still without closure, uncles Shiv, left, and Krishna Seenath decorate a metal cross with a picture of murder victim Mariah Seenath at their home on October 31. - Photo by Innis Francis

WHILE thousands will flock to cemeteries to remember their departed loved ones on All Saints' Day on November 1, Mariah Seenath's relatives will visit the site where her body was found over a month ago to commemorate what would have been her 14th birthday.

At Seenath's grandmother's Cipeiro Road, Friendship Village home on October 31, her uncles Krishna and Shiv were busy adorning a metal cross with flowers. The red, white, silver and yellow petals were selected to stand out against the green background of where her body was found. Blue flowers were incorporated, representing her favourite colour. It will be part of a memorial shrine to honour the life taken too early.

"It's unbelievable. It's hard to cope with, but they said don't question God. It in the hands of God. It's just to manage," Krishna said as he sat on the front porch, describing how they were coping.

"Her memory will always be there."

Krishna said several relatives would visit the site on the evening of November 1 to pay tribute to Seenath. If the weather permits, he said, they intend to release lanterns into the night sky.

Mariah Seenath. -

He said Seenath's birthday was always a special occasion for the family. He said once she was at her father's nearby home, the family would cook her favourite meals, either barbecue and fries or roti and curry. Regardless of what was on the menu, it was always followed by the birthday essentials – cake and ice cream.

While some families may still cut a cake to remember loved ones' birthdays, Krishna said they would not.

"Knowing that she not here...it wouldn't feel comfortable."

He hoped the perpetrator could be brought to justice soon to help give the family closure.

Senior homicide detectives told Newsday no one has been charged yet with Seenath's murder. Newsday was told police were awaiting a toxicology and blood report to advance the investigation.

Seenath, a form-three student at San Fernando East Secondary, went missing on September 19. She was last seen leaving her Friendship Village home a short while after returning from her grandmother's home. Her body was found the next day in some bushes off a track she would often use to walk between the locations. An autopsy showed she died from blunt force-trauma to her head, leading investigators to believe she was beaten to death.