Glendevon siblings who went missing are back home, but to be separated

Western Bureau:

The gloom that hung over a Glendevon, St James, family between Sunday and Monday was replaced by happy smiles yesterday as they were reunited with the two children, who went missing after attending the St James Municipal Corporation’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay, on Sunday night.

The children, 14-year-old Kimoya Gordon and 10-year-old Recali Smith, were found at the home of one of Gordon’s friends, after the little boy’s grandmother (his father’s mother, Joan Lawrence) managed to coax Gordon’s reluctant friend to give up their location. That information was passed on to the police, who quickly located them.

“I am feeling much better because I was wondering where they were,” said the children’s mother, Daneil Tennant, whose mother had taken the children to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

“I must say thank God because it could have been worse. Normally, when a child goes missing it is a 50-50 chance [that they are found].”

Tennant said when she got the news Sunday night that the children were missing, it took an immediate toll on her, which escalated over the next 24 hours as frantic efforts were made to find them through numerous telephone calls.

“I even have to leave work. I was at work and when I heard my mother say she didn’t hear from them, I had to leave work,” said Tennant, who is currently pregnant.

According to reports, Tennant’s mother took Recali, who attends Chetwood Primary School in Montego Bay, St James; Kimoya, a student at Holland High School in Trelawny, and another child, who is autistic, to the ceremony. Towards the end of the event, she decided to leave early to avoid getting caught up in the expected crowd at the end.

Kimoya was reportedly reluctant to leave but her grandmother insisted, and they all began walking to the bus stop. However, when the grandmother got to the bus stop, to her surprise, both Kimoya and Recali were missing. She reportedly waited around for over an hour, but they did not show up. Thinking that they might have gone home on their own, she went home, only to find out they were not there.

With the children now back home, Tennant has plans to get them into counselling, which Kimoya was already being exposed to as a result of prior behavioural challenges.

“She is currently going through counselling,” revealed Tennant in relation to her daughter, who she believed influenced her brother to disobey their mother. She is thinking of also getting her son into counselling.

However, indications are that the children will be separated soon as Recali’s grandmother (Lawrence) has already made preparations to take him into her care.

“I am going to take him from them and keep him,” Lawrence told The Gleaner. “I am going to keep him and send him to school … . Yes man, mi a keep him… . De mother know, de grandmother know, everybody know.”

editorial@gleanerjm.com