The family's ordeal goes back to early November when the boy, named Hernando Ack was playing with a cigarette lighter while he was sitting on what is believed to be a pit latrine. It is unclear what happened, but there may have been some combustion of the methane gas in the latrine, and that caused Hernando to get badly burned to his leg and stomach area.

He was transferred to the Southern Regional Hospital the following day, and he spent an entire month receiving treatment there before being sent back and forth between the PG Hospital and the Southern Regional Hospital.

According to the police, the parents voluntarily discharged Hernando from the hospital on the grounds that he was not receiving adequate treatment for his injuries. While he was at home, Hernando's health gradually deteriorated, up until Sunday, December 29th, when he stopped eating and began suffering from diarrhea and pain in the stomach. From there, his condition worsened, and he became unresponsive while trying to speak. He was taken back to the Punta Gorda Hospital, but by that time, it was too late.

A Post mortem shows he died of Acute Respiratory Failure. With other complications relating to second degree burns and sepsis.