I was protecting them - Woman who sheltered missing teens answers critics

As detectives continue to search for missing teenager Jullisa Reid and her friend, persons are turning up the heat on Jane*, a 20-year-old woman who claimed to have accommodated the youngsters at her home last Friday night.

Speaking with THE STAR, the woman said she only invited the girls to spend the night with her because she was fearful they would be harmed if she left them wandering the street.

"I was heading home from a party after 11 p.m. on Friday when I saw them talking to a man and they looked like they were lost. Mi walk up to dem and asked them why are they in their uniform this late and where they were heading to this late in Plantation Heights. They looked frightened and dirty, so I invited them to my home," she said.

The woman said while they were in the bathroom, a relative overheard them saying they were going to a man's home and added that they didn't care if they ended up in State care.

"When they came out the bathroom, I questioned them again as to why they would want to leave their parents' home. They tried to convince me that they had not run away from home but I knew they were lying. Jullisa claimed she called her mom and told her she wasn't coming but I didn't see her with any phone. The next one said her father know say she nah come home already," Jane said.

She said early Saturday morning, she saw a picture of a missing teenager on Facebook but was uncertain if it was Jullisa.

TWO STRANGERS

"I began reading the comments under her picture and I asked her where she was from and it was then I realised that it was actually Jullisa. People keep on asking why I took up two strangers and have them at my house, but I am a young mother and I have two sisters. I couldn't just pass and leave them on the road. Plantation Heights is where they raped people pickney and dash them up here. Unu remember Ananda Dean, that they throw away at Look Out? So I couldn't see two youngsters on the road and pass them," she said.

Jullisa's mother, Sasha Gay Hylton, said her daughter, who is a second form student at The Queen's School, did not return home from school on Friday and was last seen in a bus heading to downtown Kingston.

She stated that this type of behaviour was unlike the youngster who she described as a well-mannered child. Jane also said she strongly believed Jullisa had given in to peer pressure.

"When dem a bathe me all search them bag and Jullisa didn't have anything inside except her school tings but the next one have a 'dresser' in her bag. She have clothes, spray, roll on and everything. I had to give Jullisa clothes but the next one have everything lock," she said.

She told THE STAR that after giving them breakfast on Saturday morning, the girls promised that they would return to their parents.

Despite the criticism, she is adamant she made the right choice.

"If I had left those children alone on the road, their bodies would be found the next morning. My conscience would not allow me to rest peacefully on Friday night If I had left them alone on those streets; the headlines may have been different," she said.

Up to press time last night, Jullisa remains missing.

*Name changed