Teen’s skull fractured in alleged assault at resort in Dominican Republic

An Alberta teen remains in a medically-induced coma in the Dominican Republic, according to his family, one week after they say his skull was cracked in what his mother alleges was an assault in a bar at the resort they were staying at.

“I just want to get back to Canada as soon as possible with him,” Cindy Rowan told Global News on Friday while speaking about the ordeal facing her son Chase Delorme-Rowan.

On Monday, Rowan said her son remains in hospital and is still not able to be flown back to Edmonton where he and his family live, so she has rented a room near the hospital so she can be by his side.

Rowan said she gave Chase, 18, and his two siblings permission to go to a bar on the resort on Tuesday since they were all of age.

“I thought it was a safe place so I let them go,” she explained.

Rowan said she received a phone call just after midnight that something was wrong with her son.

She asked his brothers to bring him back to the room but she soon realized the severity of the situation.

“My son’s like, ‘Mum, there’s something seriously wrong with Chase… He’s not waking up, there’s blood coming out of his mouth.’ And I’m like, ‘What? What do you mean?’”

Rowan said she and her husband ran to the bar and arrived at the same time as an ambulance to see her son in distress and a number of panicked people looking on.

She said her son had to wait to get surgery once he arrived at the hospital because the staff there were trying to confirm his insurance would cover any help he required.

“They removed a blood clot the size of a grapefruit from his skull,” Rowan recalled. “And his brain was swelling to the point that they had to remove pieces of bone to let the brain swell.

“If they didn’t remove that bone, he would surely die or have strokes.”

Rowan was emotional as she explained her son then slipped into a coma and suffered multiple seizures. She said doctors told her to prepare for the possibility Chase may not survive.

Global News has obtained a complaint report that was submitted to a local prosecutor’s office in the Dominican Republic that names a suspect but has been unable to confirm that he has been charged or that he is from Canada as well, as Rowan alleged.

She told Global News hotel staff began searching for the suspect after the alleged assault and was eventually able to find the man and called police, who she said then arrested him.

Global News has reached out to local police for more information. Global News has also reached out to Global Affairs for comment on the situation.

Rowan said her husband and other children flew back to Canada on Thursday but she and Chase’s grandmother remain in Dominican Republic.

She said she has spoken to officials with the Canadian embassy who have offered assistance with arranging a MedEvac Canada flight for her son once he is able to be moved.

Rowan said she and her family saved up for a year to go on the vacation and that while she and her husband both work, the cost of the unexpected extension of their stay, legal bills and transportation to get to and from the hospital and the courthouse has been difficult to pay for.

“Everything’s adding up fast so I had to ask for people’s help,” she said. “I hated asking for help, but I needed help.”

Rowan started a GoFundMe to help with the family’s expenses. As of Monday afternoon, it had raised over $27,000.

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