This is the fourth in a weekly series looking at how the relatives of victims of crime have been coping with their loss. The series, entitled ‘Victims’, will hopefully point the state in the direction of those in need of emotional assistance and help prod people with information on these heinous acts to share them with the authorities.

WITH the memory of the chilling double rape and murder of two primary school girls whose decomposing bodies were found inside canefields in 2005 still fresh in their minds, the children of the farming district of Town Head, Westmoreland continue to be afraid.

They walk home from school in groups and no one takes the short cut where nine-year-old Sheneka Shakes and Shauna-Kay Legister, eight, were sexually assaulted and killed on their way from school three years ago. Other young children are transported to and from school by taxi operators contracted by their parents to ensure their young ones are protected.

“Mi fraid fi on the road in the day or night. Sometimes mi guh to bed and can’t sleep because I remember like is yesterday and I ‘fraid bad. Sometime I just start tremble,” one eight-year-old girl told the Sunday Observer.

Dr Yvonne Bailey-Davidson said it was not surprising that the child should be so affected by the incident. According to Bailey-Davidson, it will take years for her to return to a normal state of mind, given the brutal nature of the killings and the fact that it happened to two girls who were in her age group.

“Some children deal with it differently. They have different coping strategies because of their genes. They may get depressed, anxious or develop sleep and eating disorders. When time passes, the symptoms might get better, but if something happens in the future it might trigger the same reactions. The memories last forever,” she said.

The adults in the community are equally afraid. The incident has forever altered the way that the residents of the once-peaceful farming district go about their daily lives.

“Nobody don’t even tek the short cut again. The little pickney dem still ‘fraid and nobody naw take no chance with them pickney after what happen,” Sheneka’s mother, Shernett Cole, told the Sunday Observer, “That person who did take away those babies has changed life in Town Head forever. Things can never be the same again.”

The saddened mother looked dazed as she recalled her child’s untimely demise.

“The little girls were so innocent, it shouldn’t happen to them at all. I will never, ever be able to get over that terrible thing. The baby dem start rotten and when them find them, it clear seh whoever do it molest them. Oh my God,” Cole said.

The fear in the community is compounded by the fact that homicide investigators, after more than a year, have not unearthed any strong leads in the case. In the months following the brutal murders which drew international attention, several people were taken into custody and questioned by the police, but all have been released.

“The case is still under investigation but no one has been taken into custody recently,” an officer at the Savanna-la-Mar Criminal Investigation Bureau told the Sunday Observer.

That news makes the pain of the tragedy harder to bear for Shauna-Kay’s mother, Janice Tomlinson.

“We can’t believe seh all now them can’t hold anybody. Nobody not telling us anything and it seem like the society forget the things that went on down here,” said a distraught Tomlinson.

Residents of the community said that about at 8:30 am on June 29, 2005, Sheneka, accompanied by Shauna-Kay, left school to visit her sister, Suzie Shakes.

Relatives said that the girls reportedly left Suzie’s home for school, using the now-dreaded short cut. It was the last time they were seen alive.

Hours later, when the children did not arrive home, residents launched a search for them. The blood-stained bodies of both girls were found in the nude and badly battered a mile a part. Sheneka’s head was bashed in.

Forensic tests later revealed that both children had been raped.

The discovery of the bodies sparked a three-hour demonstration in the community, as irate residents blocked sections of the Savanna-la-Mar to Town Head main road to vent their chagrin at the morbid murders.

The children were on their way to school when the child killer struck; some residents believe the killer is still in their midst.

“We don’t know what to believe and we can’t rule out anything because the thing happen so mysterious. Sometimes we feel like them forget about us and the tragedy that befall us. Sometimes we have to wonder if is someone who them know do it why them kill them suh brutal,” said Tomlinson.

Relatives of the girls said they were offered counselling when news of the murders broke, but now three years later they are still trying to find closure.

“We used to get counselling and even the (then national security) minister, Mr Peter Phillips did offer us help, but it look like we don’t matter anymore,” said Cole. “It is very hard for us as mothers, knowing that the killer of our children is still out there living happily while we are left to mourn for the rest of our lives.”

Cole’s woes are not only mental, but also financial. Her troubles were made worse when her son fell from a tree and was crippled as a result. The child is one of four who Cole looks after single-handedly.

When the Sunday Observer visited her at her humble one-room dwelling in Town Head, the crippled boy was seen lying on a bed dressed in adult incontinent diapers.

“It is very hard on me as I am a single mother and sometimes is hell just to make ends meet. It hard mi a tell you,” Cole said despairingly.

The tragedy of Sheneka and Shauna-Kay’s murders have also hit the Town Head Primary School hard; the girls were students at that institution.

Vice-principal Audrey Hancel, like others at the school, continues to be saddened by the memory of the girls and the fate that befell them.

“The school was turned upside down. The students were all sickened by what happened to their friends and classes had to be suspended. Shauna-Kay would have taken the GSAT exam and by now she would have moved on to high school,” Hancel said. “The memories will never leave us. Those two girls were always smiling and helpful and their absence has left a hole in our hearts.”

The Westmoreland police said they are still probing the incident, although all leads have turned up cold.

Meanwhile, Town Head residents were given a harsh reminder of the tragedy that impacted their picturesque village, with last week’s news that four men had attempted to abduct a 12-year-old girl who was on her way to take a taxi at George’s Plain in the parish.

One male resident had a strict warning for potential child molesters who might harbour thoughts of entering their community.

“This time we deh pan the alert and anybody try anything like that again, we will show the police how fi deal wid unu. It nah guh suh again,” warned the angry young man.