‘Dem can’t hide from God’ - Grieving mom speaks out on 14-year-old brutal killing

The Crying Child Monument in downtown Kingston stands as a solemn testament to the countless young lives stolen by violence in Jamaica. Erected in 2008, the monument bears the names of innocent victims whose voices have been silenced forever. Soon, another name will be added to this heartbreaking roll call--Price Johnson, a 14-year-old girl whose life was brutally cut short in what should have been the safety of her own home.

Price would have turned 15 next Friday, February 21, but instead of planning a birthday party, family members will have to muster the courage to say their final goodbye.

It was broad daylight last Thursday at Palm Grove, Spanish Town Road, St Andrew, when a predator invaded what should have been her sanctuary. Alone in her apartment, Johnson had no warning of the horror about to descend upon her. Moments later, screams echoed through the building.

A relative, alerted by the commotion, rushed into the apartment and was seen wrestling with the intruder, who managed to escape.

Price, a ninth-grade student at Haile Selassie High School, was found with severe wounds to her head and face. She was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to her injuries while undergoing treatment.

For her mother, Eugene Wade, the pain is unfathomable. "All who knows Price loves her. She hypes me up every time I dress up, 'Mommy, you look good eeh mommy.' Me and her had a strong bond. Price is my last baby, and mi miss her from mi heart."

The aspiring dancer, whose dreams were as boundless as her spirit, was known for her fierce determination.

"When you ask her something and she gives you an answer, don't even bother ask her again because she a guh say, 'Mommy, when mi ready mi tell you.' If Price believe she right, she naah stop until she prove it. You can't push down things pon her," Wade said, adding that her daughter was doing well in school.

The grief among Price's family is palpable. "Price, come mek we do one TikTok dance," her cousin, Ashley, cried out, still in disbelief over her cousin's death. Family members yesterday gathered at Wade's stall at Palm Grove -- some teary-eyed, some crying uncontrollably, and others silent--all united in their shared grief over the loss of Price.

Price's absence is deeply felt by her cousins, for whom she was a bright light and a committed big cousin to their children.

"Today Sunday, she would be up there cleaning up the place and a rush me fi done cook," Wade reflected.

Wade recounted the last moments she shared with her daughter. "She inna her sleep, in her house weh supposed to be safe. Mi put on mi clothes, and she come a the grill, and mi give her $500 fi buy food till me come back--only fi get that news when me a come off a the bus. That can't come out a mi head. If in a your house nuh safe, just judge how outside stay," she said, her voice heavy with anguish.

Despite the pain, Wade is leaning on her faith.

"This month is her birthday, and it hurt so much fi dem coulda brutally kill her that way. But as mi say, God nah carry me so far and leave me. Him see what me nuh see, and if them can hide from man, dem can't hide from God," Wade said.

Community members described Price as a polite and well-mannered girl who spent most of her time with her cousins. "Her cousin dem a her friend. She nuh roam, and if you see her outside, it's right a the stall wheh her mother sell," another resident said.

One resident expressed disbelief that no one in the close-knitted community noticed anything sinister on the day the teen was attacked.

"People from up deh so always sit down outside, and dem don't see a who? She a bawl out, and nobody nuh look? If man a come in here any hours a night, them see, all the other time dem see," one resident lamented.

The Hunts Bay Police said that the suspect in the murder of Johnson was taken into custody yesterday.

Pastor Dr Stephenson Samuels of the Waltham Park New Testament Church of God did not mince words in his condemnation of the act.

"I don't think we protect our children from harm and danger, and that's one concern I have," he said.

"It just goes to show the decadence, the degradation, and the destruction of our society. To do such a gruesome act, it is just unacceptable. I cry shame on the community. It is sad that that could have happened to a 14-year-old and nobody is saying anything," the clergyman said.

Similarly, Laurette Adams-Thomas, CEO of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), expressed profound sorrow and outrage.

"The crime committed against this child is beyond horrific. This tragedy is a stark reminder that we, as a society, must do better to protect our children. The safety and well-being of our youth must be a collective responsibility," Adams-Thomas said.

She found it "quite unsettling" that a strange man had been seen tampering with the locks in an attempt to enter the premises, yet no alarm was raised.