Back before Christmas
Two children found safe after going missing at MoBay tree lighting ceremony
Published:Tuesday | December 17, 2024 | 6:55 AMAshley Anguin/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A family in Glendevon, St James, had their fears averted last night after a missing 10-year-old boy and his 14-year-old sister were found safe. The siblings went missing after attending the St James Municipal Corporation’s annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Sunday night at Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay.
The children, Recali Smith and Kimoya Gordon, both from the Damper Lane area of Glendevon, were brought in to the Montego Bay Hills Police Station and reunited with their mother after she was notified.
Kimoya is a student of Holland High School in Trelawny while Recali attends Chetwood Primary School in Montego Bay, St James.
According to reports, the children left home with their grandmother and another child to go to the event, but towards the end of the ceremony, the grandmother decided to leave early to avoid the after-event congestion.
“My mother said she nah wait ‘til the event over because the place too crowdy,” said the children’s pregnant mother, Daneil Tennant, who had given her mother permission to take the children to the popular Yuletide event. “My daughter (Kimoya) insisted that she nuh ready, so my mother started to get upset on them to come on.”
Tennant added that her mother was also concerned about her autistic nephew in the crowd, which contributed to her decision to leave early.
“My mother went through the crowd with them towards the bus stop, but when she turned around, she didn’t see them,” said Tennant. “My mother waited around from 9 o’clock until after 10 o’clock and she left for home, thinking that they may have left for home on their own.”
However, when the grandmother got home, she discovered that the two children were not there.
Tennant then became concerned and started calling her son’s phone, but it went unanswered. Despite making several calls, she was unable to reach them.
Yesterday, with the children still not showing up at home, Tennant visited the Montego Hills Police Station, where she reported them missing. She provided photographs of them to assist the police in locating them.
With the police unable to find the children, Tennant tried to contact another girl, who was with them at the ceremony, but initially she was unsuccessful. Eventually she did make contact when she used another telephone to place the call.
“When mi call the number, she said they are coming home. I called back the police and they say they might have an idea where they are ... . I am hoping that they find them,” a worried Tennant told The Gleaner last night before news eventually came that they were located.
Speaking with The Gleaner last night, Superintendent Eron Samuels, the police commander for St James, said: "Both children are with us and to be medically examined."