Dad not giving up hope of finding Baby Jameal

Jameal Mendez Sr says that his Father's Day wish is to be reunited with his son who went missing from their Rasta Corner home in Free Town, Clarendon, last Thursday.

"Dat a mi greatest wish. Mi would a love that fi Father's Day. Mi would a love fi see mi son again," said the 29-year-old father. He described the past week as torture.

"The night dem a di worse part. When mi go in a night time an' mi son is not there like mi used to, mi mind just deh all over di world," he said. "Mi nuh know how mi a cope. Mi just a try hol' up." Mendez Sr said he initially dismissed news of his son being missing as a prank.

"But when mi see hours and hours up until the next day and mi really nuh see mi baby... mi turn into a different person," he related.

Head of operations of the Clarendon Police Division, Deputy Superintendent Anton-Gur Cardoza, told THE WEEKEND STAR that other agencies have since joined in to try and locate Jameal Jr.

"We are still investigating and when we get information about possible locations we search immediately. We have other entities that have joined. We haven't got any good lead as it relates to where the child is, but we are continuing with the investigation," he said. Cardoza said that intelligence suggests that the child is still alive but the police are not able to disclose much information as the case is sensitive. Mendez Sr says he is relentlessly trying to find his son and will leave no stones unturned.

"Mi search all bout, anywhere mi mind tell mi. Right now a only the hospital lef' fi mi go fi see if anybody come drop off mi baby during di period weh wi a look for him," he said.

"When mi see pickney missing, mi always feel a way an' wonder why dem affi tek dem weh, especially the young ones from [age] 12 down. Me always say dem sup'm yah traumatise babies an' see it come reach me now ... me kinda paranoid."

The taxi operator says that Jameal Jr loves cars and he wonders if that made the toddler fall victim to kidnappers.

"Mi a pree seh if him see a Probox car him will seh 'Dada' an' them just stop and tek him up and gone. From him a baby, when me wash the car, a mi and him. If mi in the car, him come climb up in me lap and take the steering wheel seh him a drive. Him love car like that," he explained. Mendez Sr made a desperate plea for the safe return of his son.

"Mi a beg anybody weh have him or have an idea weh him deh. Mi a beg dem, please, no matter wah. If a even a case where dem have mi baby an' want sup'm ... mek the demands and mi see if mi can reach up to it or whatever," he begged.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of two-year-old Jameal Mendez Jr is being asked to contact the Longville Park police at (876) 902-5047, 119 or the nearest police station.