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Cindy Mandy La Corbiniere was reportedly attacked by three women and later died at the make-shift hospital at George Odlum Stadium.
Family members describe Cindy Mandy La Corbiniere as a young woman always willing to help out when necessary. Precisely why the 18-year-old found herself heading ‘down the road’ from her home in New Extension, Micoud early Sunday afternoon. She was off to collect a cake her aunt baked for her uncle. Originally her aunt had requested the assistance of Mandy’s sister Sharma La Corbinere, but 20-year-old Sharma had been busy babysitting at the time.
“She came back trembling,” said Sharma. “She was upset. She told me, “You see I didn’t do that girl nothing and just so the girl knocking me,” and she went out of the house again. I followed her thinking that it was another girl she had a problem with.”
Little did the girls know that Sunday, January 10 would end in tragedy. On Monday, January 11, police reported the death of Mandy La Corbiniere. Reports indicated that the teen had gotten involved in an altercation with another young woman. Mandy was stabbed in the lower abdomen.
On Tuesday January 12, the STAR paid a visit to the La Corbiniere family in Micoud. Family and close friends had come together to comfort one another. Among those gathered were aunts, cousins and Mandy’s father, Norman, who appeared inconsolable. A pastor brought everyone together for a word of prayer that brought even more tears, but was at the same time reassuring. Mandy’s father broke down in tears and discreetly left the circle of prayer. For the entire family, the 18-year-old was a princess who could not be replaced.
Sharma La Corbiniere revealed that she and Mandy were cousins, and not ‘real’ sisters. She said Mandy’s mother resided in the United States and Mandy had been living with her and her mother for as long as she could remember. Sharma gave her account of Sunday afternoon’s happenings.
“When we got down the road, I asked her who hit her and she pointed to a girl who was standing on the other side of the road. It wasn’t who I thought. She told me the girl hit her on her lower back with a stone.”
The girl Mandy pointed out was friends with another girl who Sharma claimed “persecuted Mandy all because of a boy.”
“Out of nowhere the girl came and pulled onto Mandy’s hair, so in return Mandy pulled her hair and they started wrestling. I was trying to separate them and at the same time, I was asking the girl why she had to knock Mandy. The girl was like, tell you sister to drop my hair first, tell you sister to drop my hair first!
“I didn’t know she had another sister there. Honestly, I can not tell you what time she stabbed Mandy, I did not see. I only saw when she aimed at her and I grabbed the knife. The knife was not sharp because she pulled it out of my hand and it did not cut me. She held onto Mandy’s hair and started stamping her, three to four times on the ground. After she left I was like, Mandy she stabbed you. The only thing Mandy said was, “I’m weak, help me.”
While the fight was going on, Sharma says none of the onlookers stepped in to help. When it was over, the 20-year-old says she asked around for someone to call the ambulance.
According to Sharma, the ambulance came in about 15 minutes, though emergency response personnel initially said they were on the way to get tires for the ambulance in Vieux Fort and for that reason, they would have to take their time to drive to come get the victim. When they finally arrived the teen was transported to the makeshift hospital at the George Odlum Stadium.
“I don’t know her,” said Sharma of the girl who stabbed her cousin. “I only got to know her the day she stabbed Mandy. Mandy did not know the girl; the girl took on her friend’s problem.”
The girl who Sharma said had been harassing her cousin had been dating a boy who was in Mandy’s class at Grand Riviere Secondary School. Mandy was transferred to Micoud Secondary from Grand Riviere Secondary almost four years ago. Late last year Sharma said the boy came from Dennery to Micoud for a football match.
“He hadn’t seen Mandy in a long time so he hugged her and the girl wasn’t pleased,” said Sharma. “The guy said he was no longer with the girl. From that time she started persecuting Mandy. Recently I asked her why she had to keep persecuting Mandy’s life and she only smiled. She never said anything. A friend of mine asked her the same question and she said she had no problem with Mandy, she “calm with that already.” But they had their plans.”
A family friend from Montserrat who recently got married to one of Mandy’s cousins gave her account of things. Mandy had been part of the woman’s wedding that was held exactly one month before the incident. She’d read the bible scripture.
“On the way from church with my husband we saw Mandy’s grandmother rushing down the road but we weren’t aware of what happened. Twenty-five minutes earlier we’d left the scene and there was nothing there. I didn’t see anybody, no girls, nothing. When I heard Mandy was stabbed I rushed to the ambulance. I saw her sister Sharma in the front of the ambulance then her father came. He just started crying, who stabbed his daughter, he didn’t go into the ambulance. They held him back because he just wanted to find out who had stabbed his daughter. I stood there and everyone was crying and arguing.”
At the makeshift stadium hospital the just-married visitor witnessed an even more chaotic scene. She arrived with Mandy’s frantic father and after trying to calm him down, she attempted to get information about Mandy’s condition from hospital staff.
Mandy’s cousin points to the area where the teen was stabbed.
“She was in a room and I couldn’t speak to anyone; no one came out,” she said. “I was just told she was in emergency room two. The family was in a state of shock so I had to ask. I found out that they were still waiting for the doctor to arrive. It was just the nurses, and another man dressed in blue, I don’t know if he was a doctor, rushing up and down with tubes, drips, then he came with one bag of blood rushing down the hall way. Still the family had not been notified what they’re doing.”
The surgeon finally arrived at around 5pm. At that point they were told that Mandy was really low on blood. After the girl’s father signed consent forms she was rushed into surgery.
“They didn’t say at the time that they needed blood. I saw only one bag of blood,” she said. “Norman asked the doctor, “is that my daughter crying like that?” They let him go into the room and as soon as he did he turned back. He couldn’t see that, her eyes were turning up. I told him he should go in, hold her hand, say something to her, but he just couldn’t.”
At around 6:30pm the woman said the doctors came out and said they needed blood and asked whether anyone was willing to give blood.
“Obviously my husband volunteered as well as his friend and another man. The surgeon was on the phone and he told us to hold on. I said if she needs blood, she’s low on blood, we have people here, you’re telling us to wait, wait for what? We’ve been waiting so long! They still hadn’t come out to give us any response on how she was doing. Only that she needed blood.”
At that point Mandy was moved to another room—a ward with two other patients according to her cousin’s wife.
“I followed them and asked what’s happened? Did she get up, is she better, is she in a coma? They said, “yes she’s in a coma, stay outside and wait until the doctor comes,” then they closed the door in my face.”
Finally Mandy’s father went to a doctor who asked him, “who had done this to her?”
“He said the knife cut a couple arteries and her large intestine and . . . [sigh] he was just shaking his head, like he’d given up hope. He walked back to the reception area, then asked me, where’s her father? I said he’s there, what’s happened doctor. Then he said, let the father spend some time with her. That alone told me something went wrong and some body is not talking.”
At 8:30pm Mandy was pronounced dead. Relatives are questioning whether the hospital did more harm than good to the 18-year-old.
“At the end of the day the hospital is in a stadium. They wouldn’t have the facilities they would have in a real hospital. The time she was on that bed from three until 5:30pm, she could have been stabilized, she was moaning, she was crying. They didn’t give her any painkillers to numb the pain. They were just walking up and down waiting for a bag of drips to come through. Asking them what happened they kept saying, “I can’t tell you anything because I’d be breaking patient confidentiality.” Patient confidentiality to the family at this kind of time?”
“If they knew they didn’t have the facilities to help her, they should have had a helicopter on board. If they knew they couldn’t save her why wasn’t this done? When I asked the doctor he said if they moved her she would have died. They didn’t say what they did in the OR and I was there every step. They didn’t say anything.”
Mandy’s sister Sharma’s main concern is justice. The young woman told the STAR: “At first I couldn’t understand myself, but now, I know she’s gone. We have to accept it how it is, there’s nothing else we can do. We’re just hoping for justice. I hope what I feel should happen, will happen. I don’t want that girl out. I have no intentions of taking revenge, of killing someone else, Mandy knows where she is, but the person who did this has to know where she’s going. I leave everything in the hands of the Lord.”
The police have yet to charge anyone with Mandy’s death but have one female in custody.
RSS
I agree, justice must be done. The family must not stop until the suspect is taken before the courts. St Lucia’s government must make an example out of this tragedy, a message must be sent to our young people, the future leaders of our country, that lawlessness and murders will not be tolerated!!! So sad indeed… Another possible young lady with a bright future that could have contributed to St Lucia gone just like that for no reason.
I read this and the tears ran down my cheeks; so young and she had to die. To the family I say hold strong and continue to have faith in the Lord because he alone can see you through this time of grief. Justice will be served. To Mandy’s father, I feel your pain. R.I.P Mandy. Gone but will never be forgotten.
My condolences to the family. Gone are the days when girls would have arguments and move on but now its the knife they are using. What’s happening to our young women?
FOR the sake of a boy your’ll kill the girl? it’s a shame how ppl are,and the main thing is the girl that had the problem is not even the one that stabbed poor mandy.
Take this as a lesson leart. We need not critisize health care professional. Its a fact, they are as good as the tools they carry.
lets movde on. Lets all get together in effort to rebuild a new hospital.
Start today
Sad ! Just real sad. Well just like the title of the song ; The Boy is Mine, but is he worth the cost of a life. This story is all too familiar and repeated. Easy young people, it’s not worth ruining your life like this. What am I saying grown folks do this foolishness everyday.
I think that this is a tragedy and my heart goes out to the family; however, I do think that the hospital in no way contributed any more to this tragic loss. There are rules and regulations; and procedures MUST be followed in every organization. They could not release any information and so they did. Simply followed the rules. St.Judes Hospital has suffered a great loss itself and I think that they are try to go by on what they have available to them. Let’s all unite together as a nation and stop finger pointing. It is so unnecessary. Look at Haiti! We are so blessed and we have been spared. Unite for a cause and let’s re-build St.Judes Hospital.
I’m patiently waiting to see what the outcome of this case will be, how long will it take the police(puppets) to charge and prosecute someone for such a senseless murder.Sad to say this but we are about to see some Mickey Mouse Justice!
This is tragic. Sometimes, it is better off to walk away and allow the evil to consume evil. Fighting and quarrelling takes us no where but the hospitalor morgue. I feel very sad for the both families..especially Mandy’s.
It goes to show that not even women /girls are immune to volience. We need /must start re-educating our children on conflict-resolutions. Children do what they see!!
who had the knife? did the girl go back to the house to get the knife, and the concern sister followed her? i mean don’t get me wrong these are questions that we all have to ask. Justice will be served but not in a situation where the girl went back home to get a weapon. my heart goes out to both families.
there are plenty more male teenagers on the island.girls stop fighting over MEN.go to school and learn the golden rule,make your family pround. conie london
The bigger problem here is how quickly a culture of violence, guns, and murders have taken root in our once relatively peaceful society. What concerns me most is that we do not have the necessary law enforcement infrastructure to cope with the ever increasing crime and lawlessness.
I was happy to have heard the Prime Minister waxing loquaciously about the need to return to the traditional values of loving your neighbour, pride in self and country and a radical change in the mindset of the entire population towards this cancer that is slowly overtaking the country.
He pledged the requisite resources for the police force, which I suppose is manpower, vehicles, forensics and greater institutional capacity. What the Prime Minister cannot pledge is the professionalism of the individual members of the force, their desire to perform their duties with great zeal and without fear or favor, and the increasing awareness among the individual members that they are not law enforcement officers only when they are in uniform.
The genie of lawlessness has been let out of the bottle a long time ago and it cannot be put back. It started with the promiscuity of the youth which resulted in children having children and the concommitant lack of proper up bringing. It gathered momentun with the cultural penetration of a society of mimic men who galmorized Jamaican “bad-men”, and Americam “gangster-rappists” who sang (for want of a better word) about guns and violence.
It metastasized with socioeconomic conditions that are worsening in the present global economic situation.
It is difficult to be positive and not be a prophet of doom in the present circumstances but no amount of hand ringing and pontification will effect the required change. I propose a national consultation on crime, lawlessness and punsihment tha twould involve all political parties, NGOs, community activists, churches, law enforcement and the wider public. The need is urgent. No excuses.
my heart goes out to the family of Mandy! may god give you the strength to get through this painful period…….. i wish you all the best and hope that you get justice for Mandy’s sake, and may this be an example to the rest of the St Lucian population of the hurt and pain that they bring to the likes of the family with their stupidity and childish wayssss…………….. R.I.P Mandy
The shameful thing is that none of the onlookers exhibted a community spirit and tried to stop the assault. Citizens can’t just stay on the sidelines if they see neighbours in trouble . Just pull them apart and try to get the people to go their separate ways before problems escalate..
Shame on the onlookers
Reading this is too sad…what are we doing as a people that we raise youngsters who have no respect for life or limb. As a reader of newspapers throughout the Caribbean, it is no longer surprising to read stories like this in Jamaica, Trinidad and now Bahamas. We need to teach Conflict Resolution. We need to pray and put God back first…What a beautiful soul gone…who possibly could have provided some solutions to society. Pray St. Lucia Pray
Anonymous, why are you defending St. Jude staff. If you speak to anyone who lives in the south of the island, they will tell you how really bad health service is at St Judes Hospital even when the hospital was up and running. To add to their incompetence,some of the nurses and doctors are rude and inconsiderate and inhumane especially those attached to the maternity ward. They are most famous for treating the patients like trash and trust me I am speaking from personal experience. Professionalism , respect, human dignity trust me they do not know that. I have told all my friends and relatives if ever I am incapacitated, whatever they do do not ever take me to this God forsaken hospital. God knows I would rather die like a dog on the streets rather than seek more abuse and incompetency oh no they call it medical attention from St.Judes
rest in peace mandy i do not even know u and i am felling sorry.to mandy family i am very sorry we will always love her i hop the prime minster will put his feet down about the death of a loveing child a friend and a sister RIP MANDY LOVE YOU
Everything said previously is so true. All of it. I really feel for Mandy’s family. I could not agree more with Caribbean Gurl. An example needs to be made and a strong message sent…Life has become far too cheap in St Lucia…I’ve heard people make remarks such as ‘I killing you and goin an sit down in Bordelais’. An obvious indication that time spent in prison is no longer a deterrent for crime. Something needs to be done. We cannot take this lightly. We need to hear what the ‘powers that be’ plan to do about curbing crime. Was that crime scene secured? Was the weapon recovered? According to Mandy’s cousin, she did not actually see the victim get stabbed. This means that with no witness, a good defence attorney can put up a very good fight..My message to the ‘powers that be’ is this. Only you can influence real change, when it comes to criminal activity. Do something. Do something now. Modernise the Police Force. Review the laws. Increase sentences. Bring back hanging, and I say this with much reservation. I say so because too many lives are being snuffed out over rubbish. Too many murderers are walking around, free to kill again. Lets protect the innocent. Unity football games and boatrides can never ever quell crime for a substancial enough period of time. Mr Mayers, do something now….
Saint Lucians need to find other ways of dealing with problems, other than resorting to killing one another. It seems too often that simple mis- understandings and disagreements end with deadly consequences.
People need to stand up and demand change,and unless that happens nothing will be done to correct the current trend of lawlessness in saint lucia.
Crime is to widespread in this country and things need to change now, it cannot continue, nor can Saint Lucians afford it to. The current change can only serve to deter the development of saint lucia- how can you depend on tourisim and not provide a safe and comfortable place for people to visit? The people of this country need to demand that the governement make tougher and stricker rules when dealing with the problem of crime;saint lucians themselves need to say that they have had enough and will not tolerate that kind of behavior any more.
Parents need to start teaching their kinds on how to be tolerant and accpeting of others, maybe even schools in this country should start teaching kids about positive ways to resolves issues.
Yes,theres always going to be people that use violence to reslove probles, but saint lucians as a whole need to want their children to behave better and deal with lifes problems better; after all they are the future generation. And what kind of future is Saint Lucia going to have, when it’s young people are not equipped to deal with lives challenges.
My condolences to the family and may god bless and guide them
Stupid killing?
Why did Mandy go home after she was hit with the stone? Mandy had already arrived at her home, why did she return to the scene where the stone had been thrown? Clearly, she went to seek revenge. Young people must learn to walk away from fights even after being hit. But, everyone wants to be the ‘bigger badder john’. Had she stayed home the fight would not have escalated. Walking away does not mean you are a coward, it just means you are the smarter one. Unfortunately someone died. Yes the one who used the knife was wrong to use that kind of force and needs to be brought to justice but I hope that is a lesson to young people to just ‘let it go’. You do not know what people are capable of so just let it go.
I sympathize with this family but please do not blame the hospital. They are doing the best with what they have. The real criminal is the young thug who took her precious life away. I hope that this “person” is brought to justice for what she did.
Unbelieveable…a young beautiful girl…to loose her life like that. My heart goes out to the family and friends…be strong. These young girls has to be brought to justice,
I am Cindy ’s Aunt and I am so sad over this situation.
r.i.p.mandy
Our community and villages need prayers. It is evident that our society is disintegrating before our very eyes; while our youth, the life blood continue to be offered on the altar of prevision, immorality and spiritual wickedness. We all need to be cognisant of our status as a society, and turn back as a start to the one true God, while seeking forgiveness for our wicked ways. There is still hope.
R.I.P M andy
I did not know you but your story touched me…condolences from Barbados