‘Please, Jamaica, just help me find my daughter’

On Saturday, when Crystal Service heard that the remains of her daughter, eight-year-old Shante Skyers had been found, she was beside herself with grief. She was relieved when she heard that the news of a body being found was a rumour.

But the mother remains devastated as her daughter, who has been missing since last Thursday, is yet to be found.

According to the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Shante left home for school about 7:00 a.m., wearing a navy blue tunic, a white blouse and black shoes. She has not been seen or heard from since.

"I felt numb. Jesus, only you know how I felt. I just remember running, and I didn't know where I was running to. I was in a different world because the thought of losing my baby is killing me. I am relieved to find out it is not so, but I am dying inside as I still don't know where my baby is. Please, Jamaica, just help me find my daughter. She is an innocent child and the entire family is breaking down. I know she is afraid wherever she is, and we just want her to come home. Also, to the persons who are spreading the rumor that she is found dead, please, just stop. Have a heart; this is not a joking thing," she pleaded.

Well-behaved child

Young Shante lives in Sterling Castle Heights, St Andrew, with her father and grandmother. Her mother, who lives in Spanish Town, St Catherine, said that residents claimed to have seen the youngster heading home after she left school at the Red Hills Primary School last Thursday.

"The rain was falling, and someone said they saw her up to the point where she reach the Seventh-day Church, while another persons said they saw her heading in the track that she usually walk home but said they have not seen her since. I really don't know what happened, but I am sure that my daughter did not run away. She is a well-behaved child, and she usually comes home on time every day. No one has slept or thinking straight from she gone," the mother said.

Shante's grandmother was too consumed with grief to speak with The STAR yesterday, and Service said she has not had a dry eye since her grand-daughter disappeared.

"Right now, as I am speaking to you, she is outside crying. We don't know why someone would want to take our baby. We know the police are working, but we a beg them please to place more emphasis on the case, and again, me a beg the people dem who a circulate say she dead to just stop. Put yourself in our position, and try to think of the pain we are going through. I just want back my baby," she said.