No safe haven for child killers

A grieving St Andrew family is appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the murder of four-year-old Quhaine James, who was shot in the head two Saturdays ago in a drive-by shooting in which a man was also killed, to share what they know to help the family heal from the tragedy.

Annastacia Bennett, Quhaine’s mother, told The Gleaner that she collapsed at work when she got the dreadful news that her son had been struck by a bullet while returning from a shop with his cousin.

Hopes that the infant would have pulled through were dashed last Thursday when he succumbed to the injuries.

“Di only thing mi coulda do a drop dung because a how di person carry di news. Mi affi just left work same time. Dem just tek mi baby from mi so. Dem just tek mi baby,” she said yesterday as she mourned the painful loss.

Bennett, who was speaking with our news team yesterday in the vicinity of Bunnan Gully community located off Mannings Hill Road, where her son was shot, believes Quhaine would have been an ambitious man.

“Him just a start school ... . Him seh, ‘Mommy, mi a go buy you one dolly fi yuh birthday, enuh’, and mi seh, ‘Quhaine, weh mi a go do wid dolly? Mi can’t play with dolly’,” she recalled of a recent exchange they had.

“And him seh, ‘Tell mi weh yuh want’. Mi seh, ‘Mi want one house’, and him seh ‘Yes, mi a go buy yuh di house, enuh, and buy daddy one car’ and dem just tek mi baby so,” she said clutching a picture of the child in his school uniform.

Nowadays, it is the fact that she has to live for her younger child, Jay-Quan James, who is one year old, that keeps her going.

She is hoping anyone who witnessed or may have useful information about the events on December 11 will use the Crime Stop online portal at www.311tips.com to report what they saw. Launched in December 2019, the portal allows the public to easily share tips anonymously.

“Mi woulda want dem just report. If even dem fraid fi talk, find someweh and tell dem di licence plate [of the vehicle] because dis nah go be no better,” Bennett said.

Quhaine’s grandmother, Charlene Plummer, also joined the call as she grieved the loss of her grandson.

“Mi no have no gunman family and then see mi grandson come dead by gun. Him nuh live nuh life yet, enuh. Him nuh live no life,” she said before pointing to bullet holes in a sheet of zinc near the spot where her grandson was shot.

Danjay Green, a resident of Lord Elgin Street in Allman Town, Kingston, knows the cry of Quhaine’s family far too well.

He lost his nephew, Rushane Burford, in 2013 due to violence in his community. The killer has been caught.

Green is encouraging Jamaicans to shun murderers and make use of the 311tips.com platform to help numerous families get closure.

Additionally, he believes the hangman should be put to work.

“Mi feel dem shoulda have some penalty – a death penalty – pan anybody weh [commit murder]; some strict measures on the accused,” Green told The Gleaner.

The Child Protection and Family Services Agency said that police data showed some 59 children dying under tragic and violent circumstances between up to November 11, 2021, the same number for the corresponding period last year.

Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison wants Jamaica to break that trend in 2022.

“I think that anything at all – whether in person or remote, with the aid of technology or not – that gives persons that comfort level to participate actively in the justice process is something that ought to be embraced,” Gordon Harrison said, throwing her support behind 311 Tips.

“This was a situation that was unfortunate; one may say at the wrong place at the wrong time which really is no comfort, because as far I’m concerned, children ought to be safe in their communities and in Jamaica,” Gordon Harrison said of Quhaine’s murder.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com