Miss Mocha Arcadia dies after fight
Three girls in custody
Stabroek News
June 9, 2004
Residents of Mocha Arcadia were yesterday in a state of shock following the death of the village's reigning beauty queen after three teenage girls in the area allegedly beat her. The three are now in police custody.
Kenisha Baird, Miss Mocha Arcadia, would have celebrated her 19th birthday on Friday. She was pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital at around 10.30 pm on Monday.
Annette Wharton, the young woman's mother, told this newspaper that she received the news a few minutes before 10 pm, almost two hours after the incident. By the time she arrived at the hospital her child had already died.
The grieving mother alleged that the three girls involved in the incident were jealous that her daughter had won the Miss Mocha Arcadia crown last year. The young woman had intended to participate in the upcoming Miss East Bank beauty pageant and her alleged aggressor reportedly had a problem with this saying that she was too old to participate and that she should give the younger girls a chance.
Wharton said her daughter's friend related that the three girls attacked her daughter earlier in the evening but residents had intervened and stopped the assault. At around 8 pm, at Arcadia Four Corner, a popular liming spot, the girls once again attacked the young woman, Wharton said.
"Her friends told me that they try to part them, but people pull dem away and dey form a circle with me daughter and the girls inside and tell dem fuh fight," the mother said.
She said she was told that one of the girls choked her daughter and when she let her go, the girl fell to the ground and had to be rushed to the hospital.
The woman said that her daughter was "sickly" since she had an ongoing heart problem and had to have regular check-ups with her doctor.
Wharton and several other people who had gathered for the wake for the teenager expressed anger and shock at the actions of the residents who encouraged the fight. They pointed out that the girls could have been stopped, but everyone stood and enjoyed that "show" and only acted when it was too late.
A post-mortem will be performed on the body of the girl today, as police continue their investigation.