Jamaicans were urged to take greater care in protecting children yesterday at the funeral service in St Thomas of six murder victims, four of whom were children under 10 years old.

The calls from Opposition Leader Bruce Golding and Prime Minister-designate Portia Simpson Miller came amid growing concern in the country over the killing of at least six children in recent weeks.

“We cannot leave the care of children exclusively to the biological parents. It has to become the responsibility of society to protect children from being mistreated and to intervene when necessary,” Golding told mourners who packed the Morant Bay Church of Christ to overflowing.

“The police cannot be in every yard and home, so it is our duty to help,” he added.

He insisted that special attention must be paid to the very young, while highlighting that the four slain St Thomas children were all under 10 years of age.

“Children are capable of mischief, not wickedness,” said Golding. “We need to take greater responsibility to protect them from such harm.”

The four children – Jessie Ogilvie, 9; Jihad McCool, 6; Lloyd McCool, 3; and Sean McCool, 9 – were all members of one family. The other victims were Terry-Ann ‘Teenie’ Mohamed, 42, Jessie’s mother; and Mohamed’s niece Patrice George McCool, 28, mother of the other three slain kids.

All the victims, except Jihad McCool, were found on the morning of February 26 in St Thomas with their throats slashed. Little Jihad was found in St Mary four days later.

Yesterday, many persons in the large crowd of family, friends and well-wishers that turned up to pay their final respects to the six had to be accommodated under a tent mounted in the churchyard.

Among the mourners inside the small church were Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas, Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields, and Members of Parliament James Robertson and Fenton Ferguson.

The bodies of the deceased, carried in pearl white caskets, were made available for viewing for about an hour before the service began.

“Let us use this occasion of immense grief to make a safer Jamaica for our children,” Simpson Miller said in her tribute. “We must stop the slaughter of our children, mothers, fathers and grandparents. We need to engage all sectors of society to play their part.”

She noted that nearly 100 children were killed last year and called for an end to the “savagery and barbarism”.

“We need to take back the power from the criminals and restore it to peace-loving citizens by influencing change in the society,” she said.

In a symbolic gesture of unity, she invited Golding, the MPs and the police commissioners onto the platform to stand beside her.

“We need unity of purpose and to demonstrate that we are serious, because we need to secure the future of our children,” Simpson Miller said.

The six were honoured with numerous tributes in song and poetry by friends, family members and former schoolmates of the children.

In his sermon, Evangelist Romeo Tomlinson offered words of comfort to the bereaved family and urged the mourners to live decent lives in preparation to meet God.

“Obey the call of the gospel and confess your sins because we will all have to stand the judgement very soon,” he said. “It is appointed unto man to die once and after that comes the judgement. Those who are God-fearing will get their just reward.”

Family friend, Clover Laguerre, described Mohamed as a very kind and trusting person on whom persons often depended, but who later fell into an abusive relationship.

“She was the head cook and bottle-washer for her father (93-year-old George Mohamed). He depended on her for everything,” she said.

She said, too, that Mohamed’s son Jessie, was looking forward to going to the United States this month to spend time with his father.

Evangelist Michael Duhaney described Mohamed as a God-fearing woman who always ensured that the children were at church. The children, he said, were active members of the Sunday School and Vocational Bible Studies.

“Let us not see this as utter defeat, but try to glean some lessons from it so as to move on with our lives,” he said.