IT’S a bright, postcard-perfect Tuesday afternoon in Westmoreland and Janice Tomlinson is standing at her gate in Town Head, a quiet farming district in the north-east of the parish.

She’s watching some young schoolchildren frolic and tease each other as they return home from school, and her eyes follow them as they disappear around the corner.

Such images of young children bring back memories of her own little girl, Shaneka Shakes, who would have sat the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) this year at the Town Head Primary School. Shaneka had dreams of gaining entrance to either the Manning’s School or Frome Technical. But three years ago – June 29 marks the third anniversary – that dream abruptly ended when eight-year-old Shaneka, and her nine-year-old friend, Shauna-Kay Ledgister, were found raped and murdered in a cane field in Burnt Savannah, Westmoreland.

In that year, 89 children were murdered, according to police statistics. This is an increase over 2006 when 65 children were murdered, and 2007 which recorded 70 child murders.

In major towns across the island, children are dying from various acts of graphic violence at alarming rates. In fact, police statistics show that 37 children have been murdered up to June 5 this year.

One of the most recent victims for 2008 was Stacy-Ann Clarke, the 10-year-old resident of Seaview Gardens, Kingston, who was shot and killed last month during a shoot-out in the area. Many will also remember, with a shudder, the savagery with which the McCool children in Duhaney Pen met their gruesome deaths at the hands of a male relative in 2006, or how the skeletal remains of 11-year-old Shaquille Medley and his 14-year-old sister Deidra were found in bushes in Flint River, not far from their home in Hanover. Many also found disturbing, cases such as the murder of 15-year-old Enid Gordon, who was strangled with her school tie and thrown in a shallow grave by her attackers in Content District, Westmoreland, and the death of Sasha-Kay Barnes, who was burnt to death after her house in Maxfield Park, Kingston was set ablaze by armed thugs.

But no case involving the slaying of children has etched itself more in the consciousness of Jamaicans than the June 2005 rape and murder of best friends Shaneka and Shauna Kay, children who were the centre of their parents’ worlds. Their deaths have left a large void in their families, especially in the hearts of their mothers, who are still struggling to come to terms with the gruesome tragedy.

“It’s really hard to even talk about it now, especially that the anniversary coming up,” said Tomlinson.

“I try not to think about it too much, but I can’t help it. I miss her. Sometimes when I see the other schoolchildren going or coming from school, I start to cry because Shaneka would have done the GSAT this year. She wanted to go to Manning’s or Frome. But that won’t happen,” she said, before staring off into the clouds.

Five years ago, Tomlinson never imagined that her smart and precocious eight-year-old daughter would become the subject of one of those bizarre news reports about slain children she always saw on television. After all, her daughter was a good child with a promising future. But in June 2005 the best friends were on their way to attend classes at the Town Head Primary when they disappeared without a trace. A search conducted by the Savanna-La-Mar police in canefields days later proved successful as the bodies of the two little girls were found. They had been raped then killed.

The reactions in their communities and nationwide was swift as the story of Shakes and Ledgister struck a chord with families across the country. The elements of the case were gripping: two bright, intelligent, accomplished and church-going little girls were abducted, raped and then killed. Mothers, fathers and everyone else were outraged. Even more so when the police confirmed that they had no leads. Three years later, no arrests have been made.

For the relatives of Ledgister, who would have turned 13 this year, there is no greater pain they feel than when they think of her and how she was plucked from their lives. Her aunt, Neisha, was close to tears when she spoke with the Sunday Observer at the family home in Town Head last week.

“We don’t feel good at all. We have pictures of her and whenever we look at them, especially on her birthdays, we can’t help but cry. It stressing at times and it get harder when the time of her death coming up like now. It haffi hard,” Neisha said.

Ledgister’s mother (Neisha’s sister), Shernett Cole, who spoke with the Sunday Observer via telephone the following day, was no less choked up when she spoke of losing her daughter.

“We feeling sad ’bout it. I just keep crying ’cause I feel helpless not knowing anything. We are not hearing anything,” said Cole. “We miss her a lot, everything about her. It gets even harder when I see her birthday coming up. Sometimes I wish I had somebody to sit down and talk to. I have two other young children and it seems that even now they need grief counselling.”

Cole’s family troubles became even more compounded last June when her only son, 15-year-old Damian fell from a tree and has not been able to walk since. He now relies on a wheelchair to get him around and has not attended school since the accident.

58-year-old retired schoolteacher and community matriarch, Miss Lynette (a neighbour and self-appointed grandmother to the kids in Town Head) believes low-income families like Cole’s who are mourning the loss of a child deserve assistance from the authorities.

“I know for certain that this family needs help. It’s a really sad story for them right now. The mourning will never end. The mother especially just keeps crying. I feel that if she gets some closure, it will ease the burden a bit,” Miss Lynette said. “My hope and determination is that God will reveal to us who did it. I am a child of God and I know that no prayer goes unanswered.”

Lurline Ewan is also hoping that the police will find those responsible for the murder of her two grandchildren: Shaquille Medley and sister, Deidra who vanished without a trace, after leaving their home in Bamboo, Hanover to go to Montego Bay to purchase toys on July 21 of last year. Their skeletal remains were found on February 6 this year in bushes in an area known as Flint River in Hanover. The harsh reality that the extensive seven-month search for the missing children by family members and the police had come to a tragic conclusion has been a terrible truth to swallow for Ewan, who suffers from multiple health problems.

“Oh boy, mi can’t tell you how mi feel. Oh God, they were so young. This can’t be real,” she told the Sunday Observer between sobs during a phone interview from her home in Bamboo.

Ewan, who described her grandchildren as fun-loving and healthy kids, said her grief was augmented whenever she thought about the children’s upcoming birthdays.

In the meantime, while the loss of her grandchildren has plunged her into an emotional abyss, she said she has been relying on the power of prayer and the support of relatives and neighbours to stay strong. Her co-workers have also been supportive.

“I just have to leave everything in God’s hands because he knows best. I just keep praying. That’s what I’ve been doing. My pastor come here and look for me and the people in the community help me out. I know God will give me comfort and one day everything will be revealed,” Ewan said.

Children’s Advocate Mary Clarke strongly believes that counselling is essential for families still finding it difficult to come to terms with the loss of young children.

“Where a child has been murdered, grief counselling is very important particularly for the other children in the family so that it doesn’t manifest itself negatively. Parents have to ensure that the siblings are protected,” Clarke told the Sunday Observer. “I really feel it for families especially those mourning children who were murdered. That’s why from time to time my office recommends families to the Victims Support Unit to help them get through the long bereavement process.”

Clarke also called on Jamaicans at large to support the families and offer whatever aid they can to the police who are hoping for breaks in the cases to rid the streets of child killers.

“It’s a big responsibility we have as Jamaicans to raise our children and keep them safe. As parents, we have to keep them away from high-risk areas but there is also the need for community cooperation as the police and relatives work to see that justice is served for the kids whose lives were snuffed out. Sometimes community members know things that might help the case but withhold information. We all have to play our roles,” Clarke said.

Head of the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA) Deputy Superintendent Herfa Beckford agreed with Clarke, calling on Jamaicans to help the police in their never-ending hunt for child killers by playing their part in ‘community policing’.

“The police need the support of the citizens because at times what happens is that people in the community have crucial information and withhold it because they are shielding those responsible,” Beckford, who has years of experience working in the St Andrew homicide unit before taking over at CISOCA and is also a mother. “We need a relationship with the people. We need to work as partners to bring the killers as justice. That’s what community policing is all about.”

In the meantime, for Tomlinson, the tragedy has impacted her life significantly. But with family and community support, she remains a gracious woman with enviable and unshakable faith. Holding on to her faith and her relationship with God to help her move forward. She wants to organise a joint memorial with Shauna Kay’s family.

“I guess I just have to take it easy until I see her again. I know the police are working hard and we hope we hear something soon,” she said, as another batch of schoolchildren come into view in the distance.