14-year-old girl missing since Saturday

Tameika Johnson is praying for the safe return of her teenage daughter, Venesa Bennett, who went missing last Saturday.

The 14-year-old, who attends Winston Jones High School in Manchester, last texted her mother that afternoon to inform her that she was visiting the library with a friend.

"I was at work, and she text me say she was going to Mandeville with a friend and say them going to stop at a library. I told her to hurry and go home and she tell mi say she gonna reach by 5 p.m., but when I get home, from work she wasn't there. I made several checks within the Hearts Ease district, where we lived, but no one had seen her," she said.

Johnson said last month, the teenager ran away from home but returned a day later. She described Bennett as a very jovial individual, but added that her daughter, like most children, had her rebellious ways.

Family worried

"Sometimes she would behave rude, especially If I say something to her that I she don't like. But she's a good child otherwise. She never turn up for school on Monday and mi just worried and waa she come home," she said.

The distressed mother said she is imploring the person who may be accommodating her daughter to send her home, as her entire family is worried.

She stated that Bennett had left her cell phone and all her personal belongings at home, which hinted that she had plans of returning home.

"Please just come home if you are out their reading this. I haven't slept since and it's hard to focus, knowing that I don't know where you are and if you are safe. If anyone out there know where my baby is, please tell her to come home; or if someone has taken her, please send her home," she said.

(Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Venesa Bennett are being asked to contact the Mandeville Police Station at 876-962-2250 or police emergency 119.)