7-y-o remembers sisters who died in Rose Hall crash

If she were given the chance, seven-year-old Tamelia Thompson, of Providence Heights, in St James, would gladly start her life all over again, just so she could have her two sisters to play with.

Two years ago, her sisters, Tiara and Tiana, and their best friend, Latisha Williams, all died when the vehicle in which they were travelling to the John Rollins Success Primary School, also in St James, crashed along the Rose Hall main road.

Reminiscing on the life she shared with her sisters during a memorial service for them at the school, there was very little doubt that young Tamelia was really missing her sisters.

"It's hard ... I remember when I would play with them. It was a good life and I miss them in my life," said Tamelia.

On the day of the terrible accident, it would appear that Tamelia may have had some premonition that her sisters had died, according to Carolyn Brown, principal of the Providence Heights Early Childhood Institution where she was a student at the time. Brown said that when they went to her classroom to relate the tragic news, "we saw her crouched in a corner, praying".

"I just knew," said Tamelia. "I started feeling sad in the class, so I went into a corner and started praying because I love my sisters." As the third Christmas without two her sisters looms, Tamelia also sent a special Christmas greeting to Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

"Big up Andrew Holness. He is doing his chores. Give him a thumbs up, he is a good man," she said.

Tamelia, who is now a student at John Rollins, also took time out to urge Jamaicans to follow the COVID-19 protocols by wearing masks, sanitising, washing hands and social distancing.