A man accused of abducting a 12-year-old girl and burying her alive after he thought he had strangled her to death is to be questioned by the police in the next few days.

According to Herfa Beckford, head of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse, the man, whose name is being withheld, is to be questioned in the presence of his lawyer.

“The man was held last week after the little girl made a report to the police,” Beckford said.

According to the police, the man — believed to be a family friend of the youngster — abducted her while she was in Half-Way-Tree.

Cops said the man took the little girl to a home in Smokey Vale, St Andrew where he strangled her and — believing that she was dead — buried her body in a shallow grave.

However, the police reported that the little girl later recovered and clawed her way out, made a report to family members who then reported the matter to the police.

News of the alleged kidnapping and attempted murder came a day after Acting Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington announced the establishment of a Missing Persons Call Centre.

According to the police, the centre — which will become operational on April 19 — will have as its main function the tracking of missing persons.

“The main reason we have to establish this centre is because persons go missing, it is reported and in many instances, these missing persons, especially teenagers, return to their homes without any further contact with the police telling us they have returned,” said Ellington.

“As a result, we are left with many cases which are lumped as being unsolved. This is an untenable situation as it raises fear in the society and portrays the JCF in a very bad light,” he said.

The police said the call centre will be manned by six specially trained district constables whose sole task will be to call the families or interested parties of missing persons to find out whether these missing persons have returned home.

The centre will be housed at the Office of the Commissioner of Police, 103 Old Hope Road, Kingston 6. Telephone numbers for the centre will be made known when it becomes operational.

“Despite the establishment of this Missing Persons Call Centre, I am still urging those who have reported missing persons to contact the police whenever they return home,” Ellington said.

Yesterday, Betty-Ann Blaine, executive director of lobby group Hear the Children’s Cry, while pressing for a detailed investigation into the alleged abduction and attempted murder of the 12-year-old girl, lauded Ellington for establishing the call centre and described it as a positive response to the lobby group’s countless calls for a missing persons investigative unit.

“We are very happy that our efforts have paid off, pleased to know that the call centre will be established, but now we want to go beyond that,” Blaine said.

“Within this special unit that will be placed on missing persons we want to ask that special emphasis be placed on children, so they can be given priority within the broad ambit of missing persons,” she said, noting that children account for the majority of missing persons cases.

Research conducted by the lobby group between January and November last year revealed that some teenaged girls reported missing were actually being held hostage by inner-city thugs, who impregnated or infected them with sexually-transmitted diseases.

The study also found that the Corporate Area and St Catherine account for most of the cases of missing children, while St James, Clarendon and Manchester rounded off the top five.

Blaine also reported that more than 1,800 of the 2,448 persons reported missing last year were children, and that since the start of the year approximately 313 children have been reported missing.

On Friday, the police issued an Ananda Alert for 16-year-old Shantelle Martin of Wing Way, Stadium Gardens in Kingston 5.

Police, described Shantelle — who has been reported missing from home since Wednesday, March 31 — as being of dark complexion, slim build and about 163 centimetres (5 feet 4 inches) tall.

“Information received is that about 6:00 am, Shantelle left home for school and has not been seen or heard from since. When last seen she was dressed in a floral dress with spaghetti straps,” the police said.

Anyone knowing her whereabouts is being asked to contact the Stadium Police at 946-1831, police emergency 119 number or the nearest police station.