12-y-o drowns in Kingston Harbour

The search for 12-year-old Karif Mitchenere, a student of Tivoli High School, ended in tragedy yesterday after his body was pulled from the Kingston Harbour after midday.

A police officer on the scene told THE STAR that the grade seven student and two of his friends went for a swim by the Waterfront and got into difficulties. The other youngsters were rescued by 'divers' but Karif was not found until yesterday. As his body laid on the shore, his family members wept openly. His mother was too distraught to speak to the news team. His grandmother, Maswin Millwood, who Karif lived with for a while, said she felt like dying.

"Right now mi just wah drop asleep and don't wake up back," she said as the tears welled up in her eyes. She said she got word that he was missing on Tuesday and tried to reassure herself that he was okay.

"Yesterday (Tuesday) mi get a call say three of them jump in the water and dem just save two and they can't find one. Mi keep on a tell myself say nothing nuh wrong with mi grandson. Is when mi get him school bag and his shoes dis morning (Wednesday) then mi say something wrong. Him can't swim so I don't know why him would jump off," she said.

Millwood said that she helped to raise Karif and even paid his school fee.

"He was living with mi at a point in time and we all helped him to read and so forth. I tried to show him as much love as I could. I was working and didn't have anyone to oversee him so I told him I was going to send him to his mom. I told him that if he had any issues he should call mi," she said.

Millwood added that she suggested to Karif's mother that she should take him on excursions like trips to the Waterfront or Devon House and to tell him that she loved him.

As she watched the police process the scene, she said she wished with all her heart that the end results were different.

"Mi nuh sleep all now and mi honestly did a hope dem find him alive and him would learn a lesson. That was my hope. Him give little trouble when him ready like kids all over but he wasn't a child whe disrespectful to me," he said.