OSTRACISED! Trelawny family shunned after son's slaying of daughters

Paul Clarke, Gleaner Writer

Western Bureau:

On Tuesday, February 26, 2013, a brutal case of domestic violence in Trelawny resulted in the slaying of four-year-old Chrisanne and her two-year-old sister, Tessone. The man who committed the act, their father, Kenville Mullings, then hanged himself, leaving his family and the hilltop community of Woodgrove asking one question: Why?.

"We are still grieving. This was just a tragic loss of lives of our loved ones," said the matriarch of the family, Mersadie Mendez.

Across from her house, where Mullings was buried, remains a constant reminder of the wrath that ended the lives of her loved ones.That incident has set in motion the wheels of the ostracism of her family by many of their neighbours in the predominantly farming community, some of whom she has known for years.

"It is hard for the family to be at peace as there is a constant reminder that my son committed a cruel crime.Eleven months after (the incident) and we are like strangers to many of the people in the community. Many of the people here really don't talk to us like they used to anymore," she said.

"It hurts to know that my own son brought this on us, … but, really, he wasn't a bad boy. I am just sad because we never expected this thing from him.

"Something went horribly wrong and the children, the children, the children are really missed," she said as she tried to hold back the tears.

On that fateful day, Mullings became enraged by a decision by his common-law wife, Tamara Smith, to end their six-year relationship and to move out of the home they shared with their two children.

It was reported that the couple had an argument, following which Smith left for her mother's house in Coleyville, Manchester, just over the border from Trelawny.

ATTEMPTS AT PERSUASION

An enraged Mullings reportedly borrowed a relative's car and took the two children along with him in hopes of persuading Smith to return home with them.

When his attempts at persuasion failed, Mullings attacked Smith with a machete. She was only spared after her relatives rushed to her aid.

Mullings then made his way back to Woodgrove and cut the throats of his two daughters before hanging himself from a piece of rope inside his room at the house he shared with his sister.

"Since then, we have been hurting. This family has been hurting to a great degree because of his action," Mendez said.

"I don't know what happened, why he did what he did, but I say he never loved his family, because if he did, he would not have done what he did. Those two children, my granddaughters, were like angels. They brought so much laughter and fun into our lives," she said between deep sighs.

"Now, they are gone," she added.

EXCRUCIATING LOSS

She told The Gleaner that the loss of the girls has been excruciating, adding that, without the support of her church and loved ones, she could easily have gone insane.

"I don't know how mi nuh mad enuh, because Kenville was my son, and I don't know how he could ever do that enuh," Mendez said while being comforted by Shauna Mullings, one of her daughters.

For Shauna, it is a constant battle to remain emotionally strong for herself and her mother, as she shares the house that was bloodied by the senselessly brutal slayings. Shauna has children, too, and recently moved some furniture into the very room where Mullings killed himself. She said she has been fighting the emotional feeling that grips her every time she enters the room.

"It's a feeling I have to keep fighting. He lived in that room; the children played and ate and slept in that room, and to know that it's all gone for them is something I cannot get used to," Shauna said.