Sister fears teen sibling ran away from home

Fifteen-year-old Patricia Francis has been missing since Monday, and her older sister Sharika Dunn is worried sick that she has run away.

"The life that my sister is running down and choosing, she nuh ready for that yet. It is obvious that she don't know the mistake that she is making. I love my sister and I don't want harm go near her. I am pleading with her to return home or who have her please send her home, because she is a child and they are going to be happy to keep her now, but after a while bad face gonna show. She has a home so send her home please," Dunn said.

Patricia, who is of a East Street address in Kingston, is a ninth grade student at Vauxhall High School. She is of slim build and dark complexion. Dunn, 23, said that Patricia came to live with her and her seven-year-old daughter last July after the teen's mother died. She described Patricia as being extremely quiet.

"She was a ward of the State after her mother died and I went for her to foster her so she came to live with me. She had a phone and I recently went in it and saw where she was texting someone and tell them that she want to run away and go MoBay. I sat her down and talked to her and tell her that I have already been through it and I know what the streets is like, and there is nothing good out there for her. I encouraged her to go school and make a difference," Dunn said.

"We were good and it's not like we have an argument or anything We even had ice cream. Monday we got up and she and my daughter get up and prepare for school. She would follow my daughter to school and then go school after and I went to work. At 4 p.m., my daughter call me to say that she didn't see Patricia and the door wide open, so I thought she had gone to the shop," she added.

Dunn said that when she got home from work, she realised that Patricia had not returned and she began asking her neighbours if they had seen her. One of them reportedly saw her heading through the gate. On Tuesday, she went to the Central Police Station to file a missing person's report.

"All of her stuff is at home including her school bag. She didn't take anything. I went to her school and spoke with her teachers and friends. She told one of her friends that she wasn't gonna be at school for a while which means that she was planning to run away. I got access to an Instagram account that she is using but she logged me out now. She posted a photograph and I screenshot it and send to the police," Dunn said.

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Patricia Francis is being asked to contact the nearest police station.