The murder of an elderly man in Torrington Park two Saturdays ago had so traumatised seven year-old Damone Skyers that she desperately hoped she and her mom would have moved out of the often volatile Kingston community.

Yesterday, at about 2:30 am, 12 ruthless criminals destroyed the little girl’s hope by invading her one-bedroom home, setting it ablaze and spraying her and her mom – 47-year-old Maureen Bennett – with bullets.

Damone, who would have celebrated her eighth birthday on Sunday, was shot twice, while her mother received five bullets all over her body. Residents said they had run into their small bathroom where they stood under the running shower in an apparent bid to escape the blaze before they were shot.

Both were burnt beyond recognition, said a family member, who noted that Damone died hugging her mother.

Yesterday, the police said that the murders were committed in reprisal for the death of 67 year-old Benniah Lindo, whose house at the entrance to the community was firebombed on the morning of Saturday, June 9.

It was that vicious act that had traumatised Damone, the Observer was told.

“She talked about the incident and said that she was very sad because it happened in her community and that she hoped her mother would move soon,” said Jacinth Watson, Damone’s grade two teacher at Clan Carthy Primary School.

“She was shocked by the incident and said that she felt afraid because they killed an old man next to her,” added Watson. “She just wasn’t comfortable with where she lived. She would sometimes have her head down and you could see that she was thinking about the incident.”

Watson, who was obviously pained at the gruesome murder of one of her favourite pupils and her mother, told the Observer that Damone was well loved by her classmates who took the news of her death “real hard” and had to undergo counselling.

“.The children are our future, and if they keep killing them, what are we going to have?” asked Watson.

School principal Joyce Palmer said that the murder was even more painful for her because Damone never got the chance to bond with her older brother, who she met for the first time on Monday.

“He came here to meet her on Monday because he had never seen her before,” said Palmer.

Inspector Victor Henry of the Constabulary Communication Network said yesterday that the group of men originally went in search of Bennett’s brother, Clive Clarke, a reputed area leader, but when they did not find him they attacked Bennett’s house.

Bennett’s mother’s house was also firebombed, but the blaze was put out before it could spread.

Yesterday, police named six men – Craig Hall, otherwise called ‘Creggy’; Ryan ‘Baller’ Smith; Hervekel ‘Bully’ Thomas; a man known only as ‘Paps’ and another called ‘Dwight’ – from Torrington Park and the nearby tough community of Denham Town who they said are being sought for questioning in connection with the murders of the mother and daughter.

Several bullet holes could be seen on the inside walls of the tiny death house, which was blackened by smoke. The metal bathroom window also had several bullet holes. The glass windows to the house were broken and the door jam almost knocked from its place.

“Why dem couldn’t just shoot her and leave her?” Bennett’s grief-stricken mother kept asking no one in particular, while shaking her head. “Dem couldn’t jus shot her and leave her, man?! Dem couldn’t just shot her and leave her?!”

One family member, who described Bennett as a “nice, jovial and peaceful” person said, “Mi leave it to God, because anybody who kill baby neva live long”.

One visibly shaken woman, after viewing the house and the grille which was forced opened by the callous killers, exclaimed: “Yu believe grille can save yu; a di blood of Jesus alone can save yu!”