EVERY night since accidentally shooting to death his only daughter on her birthday three Saturdays ago, grieving dad Paul Phillips has had to sleep with a picture of the teen in order to get a night’s rest.

“You know what makes me sleep? I still sleep with her [Pia’s] picture in bed,” Phillips told a well-wisher during an interview with the Sunday Observer Friday night, following a memorial service for his daughter at the St John The Baptist Catholic Church in Patrick City.

“My baby! Sweet girl, sweet, sweet. The part that hurt me is that a me bring har come and end up bring har out,” the grieving Phillips exclaimed, as he shook his head and sighed.

At one point, another male well-wisher came up, embraced Phillips and encouraged him to stay strong.

“Mi console miself with the thought that she gone home to the Lord,” Phillips responded.

He also credited prayers and support from family, friends, and church members, which he said helped him to maintain his sanity.

According to the police, Pia was accidentally shot on November 1 – the day she turned 18 – by her father, whose licensed firearm went off when he fell while running to the assistance of his family.

The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) said Pia and other family members were approached by gunmen, who pulled up outside the gate of their Riverside Drive, Havendale home and demanded that they come to them. The family had just returned home from choir practice.

On Friday night, Phillips told the Sunday Observer that one of the men – who was in the yard – made good his escape after jumping a wall unto an adjoining premises after Pia was shot. The motor vehicle in which he came had sped off leaving him.

On Friday, Phillips noted that as hard as it is dealing with the fact that he accidentally took the life of his child, he was, however, grateful that the hold-up men never got to kidnap her.

“I would go mad if they had kidnapped her and I couldn’t find her…” Phillips said.

Many other well-wishers came by during the interview to console Phillips, but in the end he was the one who ended up consoling them as they were unable to hold back the tears.

Phillips also remembered his daughter fondly as a bright young lady, who knew what she wanted out of life and who planned on entering the field of medicine after her studies. Pia was the head girl of the Immaculate Conception High School in Kingston.

During the memorial service schoolmates, friends and church members paid tribute to Pia in songs, as they remembered how she lived.

However, the tribute of the night came in the form of a surprise performance by recording artiste Tarrus Riley, who did the popular number She’s Royal.

Following his stirring performance, Riley told the Sunday Observer that he was moved to accept an invitation to attend the service after being told that it was Pia’s desire that he sing for her on her birthday.

“Mi only sorry say mi couldn’t get fi sing fi har,” said Riley.