GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — A nine-year-old orphan, who has been living at the Alpha Children’s Home since she was a baby, died on Sunday after he was hit by a car that was being driven by another member of the home.

Founder of the Alpha Children’s Home, Esther Bruyning told the Guyana-based Demerara Waves Online publication that the accident occurred in the compound of the facility at Gay Park, Providence, New Amsterdam Berbice.

She said that the 17-year-old, who did not have a licence and was not authorised to drive the vehicle, pressed the accelerator instead of the brakes to stop the car.

The vehicle slammed into a wall which fell on Nina Blair who was playing on a patio. She sustained injuries to her head and was rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital. Blair was later transferred to the Georgetown Hospital where she died.

Bruyning told Demerara Waves Online that the unidentified teenage boy was now in police custody and that, “he is very devastated. He is sitting there at the station assisting with investigations.

“It is my hope that they don’t treat him like a criminal. He is a child,” she said.

Bruyning explained that the lad entered the car, which belongs to the Alpha Children’s Home, on his own and began driving.

“He didn’t have any permission to drive it. He just took it up on his own,” she said, adding that the key got stuck in the ignition since last Thursday and she had planned to take the vehicle to a mechanic.