CATHY Walker, the mother of five-year-old Daniel Drickpaul, who was beaten by a man he knew, yesterday promised to take better care of her son. And she begged the authorities not to take him away from her.

"I cannot live without my child. When he was two-years-old his father went to prison and I had to work and take care of him so I left him by his grandparents. I wanted to give him a better life. Now they talking about taking him away from me," she cried.

Walker, 23, said she moved in with another man in Morvant three years ago and Daniel visited regularly.

"But he was never beaten by anyone when he came by me. This was the first time he get licks. He was a child who like to play and he would run and fall down a lot. The grandparents are saying that he was beaten all the time. This is not true," she said.

Police said Daniel suffered a broken bone in the back and internal bleeding from the beating. They said scars on his body indicated he was beaten before. He is being fed intravenously at the Mt Hope Hospital's Paediatric Unit.

Paternal grandfather, Boysie Drickpaul, yesterday contacted Ian Alleyne, president of Trinidad and Tobago Crime Watch for help.

Drickpaul has been caring for Daniel from a baby. The grandfather said he was not giving up the child.

"I don't want the mother to get back the child because of the condition he is in. I don't want something like this to happen again. She has to go through our lawyers to get him. Although I am sickly we will fight for him," he said.

Alleyne said after hearing their concerns, he made arrangements for the grandparents to meet attorney Om Lalla.

Lalla wrote a letter to Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul, calling for an immediate response. Alleyne said he was disappointed with the Social Service's Department in dealing with these incidents.

"This family has to get justice for what has happened. The man who committed this act needs to be hunted down. It seems as though the Amy Annamunthodo case was not a lesson for this country," he said.

Four-year-old Annamunthodo was beaten to death by a relative two years ago.

Up to late yesterday, police were still searching for the suspect.