Call for Duanvale to ‘fast and pray’
DUANVALE, Trelawny — Since last week, Hugh Brown, a 52-year-old Duanvale resident has become even more convinced that there is a need for area residents to fast and pray.
A devout Christian, the successful agriculturalist believes that it is about time that the community rids itself of what he described as the demonic forces that have caused a number of heinous crimes in the farming community.
With the brutal killing of Natasha Brown, aged four (no relation), still fresh in his mind, the agriculturalist is appealing to area residents to fast and pray.
“We need to bow down to God and start the fasting and praying now, because that is the only way we can get rid of those demonic forces. Jesus Christ said that the only way we can get rid of such demons is to pray and fast. That is the only way,” Brown argued.
He noted that over the past eight years there have been at least five gruesome killings that have rocked the normally quiet district.
Her made special reference to the double murder of Vashton Christie, 54, a justice of the peace, and his co-worker Keith Davidson, also 54, whose bodies were burnt after they were shot and killed at the New Forest 4-H Centre in Duanvale on May 29, 2006.
And in April last year, another resident, 36 year-old Natoya Whyte, was reportedly abducted, as she made her way to the community.
She has not been seen nor heard from since.
That incident followed on the heels of the discovery of three bullet-riddled bodies of three males in bushes in the community, also in April, last year.
When the Jamaica Observer visited Duanvale on Friday, residents said that they were still in a state of shock in the aftermath of last Tuesday’s beheading of little Natasha, whose body was later dumped in sink hole, believed to be about 25 feet deep in the community.
“We are still in a state of shock and mourning. This should never have happened in Duanvale. It is a wicked act,” one resident remarked.
A tightly kint community, Duanvale, which is bordered by other small communities, including New Forest, Kinloss and Garedeau, has very little employment opportunities.
Residents, who are said to be fortunate to get jobs, are employed in the tourism sector in the parishes of Trelawny and St James, while a handful work on the Long Pond Estate in Clark’s Town, roughly three miles from the community.
Resident Lorna Williams-Clarke, who describes the community as ” a friendly and welcoming district,” said that a number of folks are also engaged in the cultivation of sugar cane and ground provisions on fertile lands in the small district.
She, too, expressed shock and dismay at the untimely death of Natasha, who was a student at the Duanvale Basic School.
The little girl is believed to have been abducted as she made her way to school on Tuesday.
Duanvale Basic School’s Principal Geneva Small, who is also Natasha’s teacher, told the Sunday Observer that the entire school population is shaken following the vicious killing of the student.
“We are taking it very hard, but were are trying to cope,” said Small, noting that Natasha was a very disciplined student, who never gave any trouble in class.
She noted that following her demise the turnout at the school, which has a student population of 39 and a staff complement of three teachers, inclusive of herself, has been very low.
Tonia Hyatt, another teacher at the basic school, said that she is yet to come to grips with the incident.
“I am still feeling down. I can’t believe that the life of an innocent child just gone down the drain like that. When I think about it, I have to cry, and I am still crying because Natasha was a good girl. She was very quiet, charming and pretty, and had a nice smile,” said a teary-eyed Hyatt.
A woman, believed to be in her 40s, and who allegedly had a relationship with Natasha’s father, has been taken into police custody in connect with the murder of the child.
She reportedly admitted knowledge of the killing and took police investigators to the sinkhole, from which the child’s remains were retrieved.
However, she is yet to be charged.
Since the incident, members of the Trelawny Victim Support Unit headed by Rev Owen Watson, officials from the Ministry of Education, the Early Childhood Commission and guidance counsellors, have visited staff and students at the school to offer counselling.
Rev Watson has also met with Natasha’s parents, and offered counselling.