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“I am sor­ry for every­thing I did, girl. I am sor­ry for all I put you through,” a dev­as­tat­ed Bhag­wan­daye Ramharack cried, gaz­ing at her daugh­ter Mari­ah Seenath’s body ly­ing in a cof­fin yes­ter­day. “I wish you could come back, girl,” she sobbed. “I wish you could come back to me.”

De­spite the ra­di­ant sun­shine over Friend­ship Vil­lage, San Fer­nan­do, the mood was som­bre as fam­i­ly, friends, vil­lagers, and school­mates gath­ered for Mari­ah’s farewell. The ser­vice be­gan at her grand­moth­er’s home, with loved ones plac­ing flow­ers and a foot­ball in the cof­fin, sym­bols of the life she loved. Here, Ramharack ex­pressed re­gret for not ful­fill­ing her daugh­ter’s wish­es.

“You are an an­gel, girl. You had just start­ed to live. You did not get to do any­thing, Mari­ah,” she said. “That is my child. Why did they do that to my child?”