Forgiveness and pain - Mother of murdered schoolboy opens up about son’s death

In a gut-wrenching story of forgiveness and grief, Stacey-Ann Dunkley, the mother of 14-year-old Raniel Plummer, is opening up about the devastating loss of her son, who was fatally stabbed outside Irwin High School in St James earlier this year.

The boy accused of the crime was freed of all charges, leaving Dunkley grappling with unimaginable pain.

"He's a child. I forgive him and I love him," she said, her voice filled with emotion. "I hope that he makes something good of his life," Dunkley said.

The St James Family Court yesterday threw out the case against the 14-year-old accused of killing her child. The boy was initially charged with murder after Plummer was stabbed in the chest outside their school in Granville, St James, on April 17. Police reports indicate that Plummer had a confrontation with a schoolmate earlier in the day, and later, he was attacked by the same student and a group of boys. During the brawl, a knife was used to fatally stab Plummer. He was rushed to the hospital but died while being treated.

Despite the tragic outcome, Dunkley revealed she still prays for the boy who allegedly took her son's life.

"Every day mi pray. I pray for his mother, and I pray for his father," she said.

Plummer was Dunkley's middle child, and their bond was incredibly close. His death has left a void in their family that she fears will never be filled.

"I love my son unconditionally and he loved me. He loved his brother and sister. Even though we are poor, we had a very good relationship. I miss him so much. Sometimes I think I'm going to die from a broken heart. I think my heart is broken in a way that it cannot be fixed."

"It hurts so much," she added.

Dunkley believes her son's kind nature may have contributed to his tragic death. She raised him to be a peacemaker, and she fears that his unwillingness to engage in violence led to his fatal encounter.

"Mi born inna Jamaica and I see these things all the time and to know that it reached me? Sometimes mi blame myself for all the good things mi instill inna my children. Maybe if I had told my son to [be violent], he would have been the one getting away with this. He wouldn't have been the one buried around my back door," she told T HE STAR.

Trying to cope with the loss, Dunkley said she finds some solace in visiting her son's grave but admits that the pain is still overwhelming.

"I just came from over his grave because I just spread his shirt on it. I know it's done now, so I'm leaving it to God."

"Mi cya eat. Mi cya sleep. Mi cya think. Mi cya do anything. If mi son did dead by COVID, mi would feel better. If him did drop down and dead on a football field, mi would feel better but to know that another person stabbed and killed him? You can't just take away people's life like that. Mi feel some pain inna my belly and my heart. To tell you the truth, I don't know how mi nuh dead already," Dunkley bemoaned.

In the meantime, attorney-at-law Maurice McCurdy, who represented the accused schoolboy, expressed sympathies to Plummer's grieving family.

"Though the defence is pleased that the court found favour with our submissions in law, there is nothing to celebrate about this case. A loss of a child is a major blow to any nation. It has never been lost on us that a family is grieving," McCurdy said.