The Tribune

CYNTHIA “Mother” Pratt, speaking from her Coconut Grove home last night, wanted to assure the public that she is alive and well. And, like members of the public, she too would like to know when she died.

Circulating on social media yesterday was a report that “Mother” Pratt was dead. However, although “Mother” Pratt is in excellent health, there has been a tragedy in the family. Her 36-year-old niece, Lashanda Percentie, who was in a traffic accident early Monday morning, is critically ill in hospital. Doctors do not expect her to live.

Mrs Percentie is an Immigration officer who was on her way to work at the Immigration Department on Hawkins Hill when shortly after 5am her car crashed into a wall near Bamboo Shack and a police station. Last night her condition was critical. Death was expected momentarily.

Mrs Percentie lived with Mother Pratt before her marriage a year ago. Someone hearing of a pending death in the family, assumed it was “Mother” Pratt and without checking, put the news out on social media that “Mother” Pratt was in fact dead. At her home last night “Mother” Pratt was taking calls to assure her friends that she was still with them.

“No truth,” said a healthy “Mother” Pratt late last night. “I am in good health and would really like someone to tell me when and where I died.”