DOLIN Ramcharan, grandmother of baby Roshan Ramrattan, said yesterday that days before he was beaten to death, she witnessed a close female relative of hers beating him.

Speaking to mourners who attended the baby's funeral at School Trace, Gasparillo, yesterday, Ramcharan said she wanted to call the police.

Ramcharan said she confronted the relative about the beating, but failed to contact the authorities.

Sitting alongside the small white casket, Ramcharan said, "I last saw this child by me. But this girl (the suspect) didn't want to listen. She was hitting him and lashing him. I said I would call the police for her. I love him very, very much. When I heard the news Saturday night I fell down and fainted."

Roshan's father, Kendall Francois, also sat alongside the coffin, staring at the tiny body.

Baby Roshan did not live to celebrate his second birthday on Monday but yesterday mourners held an impromptu birthday party as they sang Happy Birthday, while his father cut a birthday cake.

Baby Roshan's birthday gifts—trucks and cars—lay unopened on a table next to the coffin, with a helium balloon with the words 'I Love You' bobbing nearby.

The child died on Saturday night after a beating, and a 22-year-old female relative has been in police custody since.

The woman, the Express learned from her relatives, was abused as a child, and left her home and went to live with Francois at Bonne Aventure Road, Gasparillo, when she was 14 years old.

Officiating pastor Amzad Mohammed said he made an appeal to the police to allow the close female relative to attend the funeral, but was turned down. He asked mourners to pray for her.

"Pray that she can deal with the guilt that she will feel for the rest of her life," he said.

Mohammed told mourners they all had a social responsibility to help others in their community, as well as accept help when it is offered.

Baby Roshan's body was interred at the Bonne Aventure Public Cemetery at Gasparillo.