Bubbly Lite Savou celebrated her second birthday on Saturday, November 2, 2019.

She and her family were already planning for Christmas. But their countdown came to a tragic end when Lite was crushed by a tree just outside her home in Lami Village on Monday morning.

The tree was being cut when it accidentally fell on the wrong side where Lite had followed her grandmother Koata Senileba.

Grandfather Sakiusa Senileba said the mahogany tree was about 20 metres away from the house and it was being cut.

He said more than 20 men were pulling on the rope tied to the tree so it would fall away from the house, but things did not go according to plan.

Mrs Senileba was in tears as she recalled what happened.

The tree was being pulled in the opposite direction of the house so I went out and thought I would burn the grass and leaves that were heaped outside,” she said.

“Lite was following me as usual. After setting fire to the heap on the top end of the house, I moved towards the bottom end. That’s when the tree crashed.

“I was hit with a branch and I fell down. When I got up, I saw Lite under a branch. I shouted. My older granddaughter came to pick her up, we saw that her neck was not the way it was supposed to be.”

Mr Senileba said the doctors at the hospital had told him that injuries Lite suffered were too serious.

“She was still breathing when we took her to the hospital. Blood kept coming out of her mouth. At the hospital the doctors said she had suffered injuries to her head and neck and could not be saved,” he said.

Mr Senileba said they were now waiting on the post mortem examination report to organise her funeral.

Police are still investigating.

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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