The Crying Youngster Monument in downtown Kingston stands as a solemn testomony to the numerous younger lives stolen by violence in Jamaica. Erected in 2008, the monument bears the names of harmless victims whose voices have been silenced ceaselessly. Quickly, one other identify can be added to this heartbreaking roll call–Value Johnson, a 14-year-old lady whose life was brutally lower quick in what ought to have been the security of her own residence.
Value would have turned 15 subsequent Friday, February 21, however as an alternative of planning a birthday celebration, members of the family must muster the braveness to say their last goodbye.
It was broad daylight final Thursday at Palm Grove, Spanish City Highway, St Andrew, when a predator invaded what ought to have been her sanctuary. Alone in her condo, Johnson had no warning of the horror about to descend upon her. Moments later, screams echoed by means of the constructing.
A relative, alerted by the commotion, rushed into the condo and was seen wrestling with the intruder, who managed to flee.
Value, a ninth-grade pupil at Haile Selassie Excessive College, was discovered with extreme wounds to her head and face. She was rushed to the hospital however succumbed to her accidents whereas present process remedy.
For her mom, Eugene Wade, the ache is unfathomable. “All who is aware of Value loves her. She hypes me up each time I costume up, ‘Mommy, you look good eeh mommy.’ Me and her had a robust bond. Value is my final child, and mi miss her from mi coronary heart.”
The aspiring dancer, whose goals had been as boundless as her spirit, was identified for her fierce dedication.
“Once you ask her one thing and he or she provides you a solution, do not even hassle ask her once more as a result of she a guh say, ‘Mommy, when mi prepared mi inform you.’ If Value imagine she proper, she naah cease till she show it. You’ll be able to’t push down issues pon her,” Wade stated, including that her daughter was doing nicely in class.
The grief amongst Value’s household is palpable. “Value, come mek we do one TikTok dance,” her cousin, Ashley, cried out, nonetheless in disbelief over her cousin’s demise. Relations yesterday gathered at Wade’s stall at Palm Grove — some teary-eyed, some crying uncontrollably, and others silent–all united of their shared grief over the lack of Value.
Value’s absence is deeply felt by her cousins, for whom she was a vibrant mild and a dedicated massive cousin to their kids.
“At present Sunday, she can be up there cleansing up the place and a rush me fi performed cook dinner,” Wade mirrored.
Wade recounted the final moments she shared together with her daughter. “She inna her sleep, in her home weh alleged to be protected. Mi placed on mi garments, and he or she come a the grill, and mi give her $500 fi purchase meals until me come back–only fi get that information when me a come off a the bus. That may’t come out a mi head. If in a your own home nuh protected, simply choose how outdoors keep,” she stated, her voice heavy with anguish.
Regardless of the ache, Wade is leaning on her religion.
“This month is her birthday, and it damage a lot fi dem coulda brutally kill her that method. However as mi say, God nah carry me to date and depart me. Him see what me nuh see, and if them can conceal from man, dem cannot conceal from God,” Wade stated.
Group members described Value as a well mannered and well-mannered lady who spent most of her time together with her cousins. “Her cousin dem a her buddy. She nuh roam, and when you see her outdoors, it is proper a the stall wheh her mom promote,” one other resident stated.
One resident expressed disbelief that nobody within the close-knitted neighborhood observed something sinister on the day the teenager was attacked.
“Folks from up deh so all the time sit down outdoors, and dem do not see a who? She a bawl out, and no person nuh look? If man a are available right here any hours an evening, them see, all the opposite time dem see,” one resident lamented.
The Hunts Bay Police stated that the suspect within the homicide of Johnson was taken into custody yesterday.
Pastor Dr Stephenson Samuels of the Waltham Park New Testomony Church of God didn’t mince phrases in his condemnation of the act.
“I do not assume we shield our youngsters from hurt and hazard, and that is one concern I’ve,” he stated.
“It simply goes to indicate the decadence, the degradation, and the destruction of our society. To do such a grotesque act, it’s simply unacceptable. I cry disgrace on the neighborhood. It’s unhappy that that might have occurred to a 14-year-old and no person is saying something,” the clergyman stated.
Equally, Laurette Adams-Thomas, CEO of the Youngster Safety and Household Providers Company (CPFSA), expressed profound sorrow and outrage.
“The crime dedicated in opposition to this youngster is past horrific. This tragedy is a stark reminder that we, as a society, should do higher to guard our youngsters. The security and well-being of our youth should be a collective duty,” Adams-Thomas stated.
She discovered it “fairly unsettling” {that a} unusual man had been seen tampering with the locks in an try and enter the premises, but no alarm was raised.
