Woman prays for return of dad lost at sea

A 'gentle giant' and 'father like no other' is how 38-year-old Dedrie Sharrier describes her stepfather Alphonso Henry. The 61-year-old and his brother have been missing at sea for about two weeks, but Sharrier refuses to give up and hopes they will be home for Christmas.

On Sunday, November 12, Henry and his younger brother Carl left home in the Washington Gardens area of St Andrew about 7 a.m. and headed to the New Portmore Fishing Village on their weekly fishing trip. However, the men, who would normally be back home by midday, did not return. Since their disappearance, Sharrier's life has not been the same. She told THE STAR that she worries about Henry every day.

"It is rough. Going home in the day and every time I turn the corner, I'm just hoping that I'm going to see his [tailor] shop open, that I'm going to see him out there," Sharrier said.

"Sometimes I sit at my desk and I look outside and see the rain set up and all I can think of is them being wet and cold out there somewhere," Sharrier added.

She told THE STAR that despite the length of time that has passed, she refuses to stop believing that her father will return and hopes he will be home for Christmas, especially on her birthday, December 25.

"I just want him to be there when I come home. I just need him to be there or something," she said, adding that since his disappearance, she has not been able to prepare for the upcoming Yuletide season as she normally would.

"I had all these plans even plan to paint the house and I can't paint, because every time I do something in the house I called him. I call daddy. Like a proud daughter, you call your daddy and seh 'Daddy come look what I did' and he would just come and smile. So I can't paint because he's not here to smile," Sharrier said unable to hold back her tears.

Head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force's Corporate Communications Unit, Senior Superintendent of Police Stephanie Lindsay, told THE STAR that searches were conducted but men have still not been found.

"The initial report is that they went to sea and they have not been seen since. There is no update. They would have done some search initially; they were not found and no new information is available now," Lindsay said.