The grandmother of missing six-year-old Orlando Jaikarran of Bath, West Coast Berbice is holding on to hope that the child will return home safely, as police continue their search for him and his father remains among three persons in custody.

65-year-old Dhankumarie Gowkarran said she last saw her grandson on Monday, when he visited her home, ate some food and received sweets she had brought for him.

The child was reported missing after his father, who shares three children with the boy’s mother, reportedly discovered that Orlando was not at home on Wednesday morning. The parents have been separated for approximately two years, the grandmother said.

According to Gowkarran, her son contacted her after realising that Orlando was missing.

“My son called me and told me, ‘Mommy, me not seeing my little son in the house.’ So when the two brothers woke up, they not seeing the other one that name Orlando,” she recounted.

She said her son subsequently went to the police station and reported that the child was missing.

The grandmother explained that the children, aged 7, 10 and Orlando, regularly attend school and would usually visit her after classes, where she would provide them with food and other necessities before they returned home.

She explained that Orlando and his two brothers, lived with their father, while their 11-year-old brother lived with her. Gowkarran, who lives separately from the three boys, said she could not say what transpired at the home on the night Orlando disappeared.

“Last week Tuesday, me come from New York, and only the last day when me see this child, he come Monday, me give him a little food and he eat and me give him what me bring for me, a little sweety. That the last day me see him,” she said.

Gowkarran also disclosed that she questioned her son about whether he had harmed the child, but he denied doing so.

“I question my son. I said, ‘Boy, you do anything to this pickney?’ He said, ‘No, Mommy. Me can’t do that. Me like me children them. Me cook, me send them to school. Me does do everything for them,’” she recalled.

The grandmother said she has been distressed by the various claims circulating about the child’s disappearance but maintained that she was hoping for his safe return.

“I don’t know, God. I don’t know what going on. If anything fuh happen more worse, because them hearing all kinds of things, seh the father do this, do that, do that. I didn’t believe. I getting a hope seh that the children go come back,” she said.

Gowkarran also said she sought guidance from a pandit after the child went missing, adding that she was desperate for information about his whereabouts.

Meanwhile, police in Regional Division Five are continuing efforts to locate Orlando.

According to a police update, ranks conducted searches at several locations in the Bath, West Coast Berbice area, including surrounding backlands, on Friday, October 16, 2026.

However, the child had not been located up to the time of the update, and three persons remained in police custody as investigations and search efforts continued.

The grandmother said she continues to hope that her grandson will be found and reunited with his family.

Dhankumarie Gowkarran