DONIQUE Smith celebrated her 10th birthday on December 24 and was eagerly anticipating the cellular phone her father, 31-year-old bus driver Fitzroy ‘Donovan’ Smith, had promised her for Christmas Day.

But little Donique’s enthusiasm was crushed when she received news that her dad was callously murdered on Christmas Day, while he was trying to earn a few more dollars, probably in an effort to make her Christmas brighter than he had planned.

“He called me and told me Happy Birthday,” said the little girl whose face was not as grim as the adults who stood by her. “He promised me a phone,” she added.

Police report that Smith was seated behind the steering in the bus he operated on the Waterhouse to downtown

route when gunmen shot him six times in the head and robbed his gold chain Saturday evening.

The brutal murder was committed on West Street in downtown Kingston in front of passengers who were left traumatised by the incident.

When the Observer visited Smith’s home on Maple View Road in Seivright Gardens yesterday, relatives were

still trying to come to grips with the gruesome murder.

Donique, his only child, said she hasn’t slept since hearing of her father’s murder, and her mother said she has been crying since then.

“He carried me out. He is a great father,” she said. “He would take me to Burger King and when my grandma come, him carry me to the country and to the beach. Anywhere I want to go, he carry me,” she said.

Smith’s sister, Lisa Shand, said her other siblings and mother who reside in the United Kingdom were finding the loss of their loved one hard to deal with.

“It hurts, because normally he doesn’t work on a holiday, so it’s just on everybody’s mind why he worked on Christmas. We were not expecting him to be working, we were expecting Donovan to be home,” she said.

His uncle, Junior Smith, said he had been looking forward to visiting the country with his nephew as they often do during the Christmas holiday.

“Is day before yesterday I see him and I go to the bus door and I said ‘what happen, you going to let us go country?’ Him say him nuj know yet, but him will knock me and let me know what’s going on,” he said.

He said his nephew had been working as a bus driver for over 15 years and had no quarrel with anyone.

Smith’s murder was condemned by the national co-ordinator of the Jamaica Association of Transport Owners and Operators (JATOO), Egeton Newman, who said it demonstrated the challenges faced by operators of public transportation.

“The death of Donovan, who was employed by one of JATOO’s senior executives, is a testimony to the fact that operators of public transportation vehicles, especially in the Kingston Metropolitan Area, are under siege with robberies and extortion at [their] highest. It is becoming more unbearable and we have no one to turn to,” Newman said.

He made reference to the plan for bus operators to start utilising the new transport centre at Water Lane, downtown Kingston next month, saying that they are being moved “further into harm’s way”.

“If the Government cannot protect us now, how will they protect us after the 15th January, 2011 when we are to move further away from high-traffic areas?” Newman asked.

He extended JATOO’s condolences to Smith’s family and friends and urged all transport operators islandwide to be extremely careful during the holiday season.