‘I’m in fear’

Almost two months after her daughter was stabbed to death, Donna Walker-Ellis says a permanent void remains in her heart, and she believes only justice can begin to fill it.

Twenty-eight-year-old Shadae Shari Brown, of Daleys Grove in Newport, Manchester, was killed in an alleged domestic dispute with her common-law husband on March 10.

Brown, a surgical nurse assistant who worked at a private facility in Mandeville, was reportedly stabbed 26 times with multiple knives in the presence of her 11-year-old son and five-year-old nephew.

According to reports, the woman’s son was able to alert neighbours and inform them of his mother’s urgent need for medical care.

But it was too late.

She succumbed to her injuries shortly after being taken to the Mandeville Regional Hospital.

“I’m in fear. Mi ‘fraid, mi ‘fraid. I was in the bathroom the other day and I just feel like someone just a stab me. Mi nuh make nobody walk behind me,” Walker-Ellis said, noting that she has been traumatised by the incident.

Walker-Ellis, who, along with relatives and friends, staged a peaceful protest outside the Manchester Parish Court on Wednesday, said she is worried about her grandson, who has had to be getting counselling since witnessing the attack on his mother.

“It’s rough ... . Today he is doing his [Primary Exit Profile] exam and he is without a mother. No mother to hug and kiss him up. How him a go live? Just 11 and he doesn’t have a mom. He lives in fear, and he doesn’t want to go to anyone except with his father. If the place doesn’t have a grille, he is not going there. He doesn’t even want to go to the places where the guy used to pick him up and drop him off, saying that he will be killed like his mother,” Walker- Ellis told The Gleaner.

Shante Douglas, whose five-year-old son was also at the house when Brown was reportedly attacked, said her child also has been emotionally scarred and has been receiving counselling.

“What hurts the most is that [this happened] in front of the two children. ... Me nephew ‘fraid and me son ‘fraid,” Douglas said.

“Mi need justice for mi daughter. She never deserved this. She was such a quiet girl. It was from work to home, she nuh go to party. You never even hear her curse bad word. She was very hard working. She wore her heart on her sleeve. She never deserve this. This is just heartless,” Walker-Ellis added.

Kevon Leslie, the man with whom Brown was in a relationship for eight years, has been charged with her murder.

Leslie had his bail application deferred when he made his second court appearance on Wednesday.

His attorney, Norman Godfrey, indicated that some documents were still outstanding in the case.

The documents are expected to become available on May 10, and Leslie will return to court on May 18.

tamara.bailey@gleanerjm.com