Put your faith in God - Ananda Dean’s dad offers support to parents of slain 8-y-o

When Richard Dean learnt that eight-year-old Danielle Rowe had been abducted and her throat slashed last Thursday, he said he hissed his teeth out of frustration.

He said it was even more heartbreaking when news emerged on Saturday that the youngster had succumbed to her injuries. He said the pain of losing a child cannot be described with words, but is imploring her parents to lean on God for support.

"I am asking them to just to use God as their coping mechanism, because He alone can do it. People will encourage you, but I think their encouragement also comes from God. It is very hard, and I am very emotional about this situation because I have lost two children in a brutal manner, and it is not an easy task to wake up and deal with. So please, just put your faith in God," Dean said. Dean is the father of Ananda Dean, who was murdered in 2008. He described Danielle's killers as heartless and evil.

"Right now I am talking about it and my head is raising. When I heard about the little girl, I just hiss my teeth, because not only did it remind me of my daughter, but how yuh a go take away a little girl and cut her throat and left her to die? It's beyond me why, and how these people are so cruel? They are evil ... You just cannot be this cruel to human beings. Where is your compassion to especially a helpless child?" he said.

Danielle, who was abducted from the Braeton Primary and Infant School in Portmore, St Catherine, was found with her throat slashed in St Andrew. According to reports, the child was taken from the school and thrown from a vehicle.

Eleven-year-old Ananda went missing on September 17, 2008. Eleven days later, the entire nation was rocked when her decomposing remains were found in bushes in Cypress Hill, Belvedere, St Andrew. The body was naked and headless. A skull was all that remained of the head. Her murder triggered the creation of the Ananda Alert system, designed to ensure the speedy and safe recovery of a child in the event that they cannot be located by a caregiver.

Nearly 14 years later, tragedy struck again for Dean, as his other daughter, Shanice, was hit by a stray bullet as gunmen shot up a funeral at the Meadowrest Memorial Gardens in St Catherine last May. He stated that both his children's death are like fresh wounds, but said he has been resting heavily on the Almighty for strength.

"Oftentimes we wonder why people lose their heads and even commit suicide, but we don't know why. It's things like these, but God has been holding on to me tightly," Dean said.

"I fathered my children well. I do my best, and people don't know how my children survive, to just come and take them away for me. There are days when I would work 24 hours. Sometimes mi wash plate, work on site, security guard work and all type of things I was willing to do to raise them. There are days when I will cry so hard and get emotional. May gone is one year since I lose my other daughter, but I remain strong because I have two other children," he added.