Tragic stabbing shatters family’s world - Mother seeks help to bury schoolgirl

The last thing Marrian White did before leaving for work last Wednesday was kiss her daughter, Akeilia White, goodbye. However, little did she know that she would never have the chance to do it again.

White recalled getting a telephone call from a doctor at 12:05 p.m., telling her to come by the hospital. When she got there she realised that her daughter had died.

"Mi never did a expect that, mi nah look fi dat. Mi a look fi Akeilia call me seh she reach home from school and alright ... She was a kind, loving, jovial person and she never deserve this. I don't know what happened and I can't understand how this happened," White said.

Police reports are that Akeilia and another student were stabbed by a 17-year-old while in a classroom at the Catholic College of Mandeville in Manchester on May 13, one day after she sat with her mother to shop online for a graduation dress.

Akeilia and the other injured student were taken the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

The student who allegedly committed the acts has been charged with murder and wounding with intent. He is scheduled to appear in court in June.

The devastated mom, instead of preparing for her child's graduation in July, has been forced to shift her focus to the unthinkable - planning a funeral for her 20-year-old daughter.

"Me never bargain fi a dem yah supmn yah, fi bury my pickney because Sunday evening [Mother's Day, May 12], when I got home from work, my daughter and I was looking at graduation dress," White told THE STAR.

"It's not a good feeling," White said. "Mi caah put into words the pain weh mi a feel right now."

She further told THE STAR that since the death of her daughter, her life feels incomplete and nothing is the same.

"Whenever time mi open the grille at night, she's the first one to bawl out, 'Marrian'! And now, whenever time I go through that grille, I don't hear Akeilia. When I wake in the morning and I go over to her bed to kiss her goodbye, I don't see Akeilia.

"I need justice! I need justice for my child," the distraught mother said.

"She was killed on the school compound, anuh like a out in a the schoolyard, a in a classroom, what is going to happen?"

A date for Akeilia's funeral is yet to be set. In the meantime, however, the family has established an account ( https://gofund.me/4a131405) on the crowdfunding platform, GoFundMe, to help raise funds to help offset the funeral expenses. Up to press time yesterday, just over US$500 of the $8,000 target has been realised.

"I really would appreciate the help because, nobody can plan for this. I was planning graduation, I never plan for this because all a money spend on school and all of that," White said, adding that she is heartbroken that her daughter will not get to fulfil her dreams.

"She was a promising and hard-working, child, she mek me proud ... she wanted to be a teacher and she even said to me mommy let me do this course and I can help you to pay my school fee. She always a look out fi others. Always! The school fail mi man because mi daughter never deserve this," White told THE STAR.