The Coroner's Inquest into the tragic death of St. George's Junior School child Akisha Charles began last week Wednesday - July 11.
The seven-year old child met her untimely death after being knocked down at River Road, St. George's by a van on January 18. She had just alighted from a mini-bus returning home from school when the accident took place.

The van which is owned by Don Purcell was at the time of the accident being driven by Isaac Hood. Akisha was attended to at the Accident and Emergency Department at the General Hospital in St. George's by Medical Doctor Francis Martin who was one of three witnesses who provided evidence to the Coroner.

Dr. Martin told the Coroner, Chief Magistrate Patricia Mark, that the little girl arrived at the hospital in a coma with both her neck and waist being motionless. She suffered trauma in her brain, and had a broken jaw and several broken teeth. The doctor said that Akisha had extensive bleeding in her lungs and was also bleeding from her nostril and ears.

The inquest is being heard before a five-member jury panel. The other two persons who gave evidence at the start of the inquest were Akisha's mother, Saran Simon, and Driving Instructor, Joseph Bartholomew. They both witnessed the accident. The inquest is set to resume on September 18.

Just as the inquest began, GRENADA TODAY reporter Wayne Modeste was stopped from taking notes inside the courtroom by Police Constable 571 Hosten assigned to the Number One Magistrate's Court.

Modeste was told by the police officer that he will first have to obtain written permission to take notes in the court from the Magistrate.

Modeste said that in his career as a journalist spanning over twenty years, most of which as a newspaper court reporter, it was the very first time that a police officer asked him to seek permission from the Magistrate to carry out his journalistic functions inside a local court.