PORT MARIA, St Mary — Terrified that the man accused of stabbing Nalia Dennis 30 times, leaving her for dead, will return, family, friends and neighbours of the St Mary woman get off the streets as soon as it gets dark.

Their children, they say, are too afraid to go outside and play, even during the days.

Now, they have offered a $200,000 reward for anyone with information on the whereabouts of the suspect.

Meantime, the police have confirmed that Kurt “Garth” Griffiths, Dennis’s ex-lover and father of her daughter, is a person of interest in connection with the brutal assault.

A senior police officer told the Jamaica Observer that their information is that Griffiths has fled to St James.

“We are working across divisions to bring him in. We are seeking the assistance of the public to take him into custody,” said the lawman who asked not to be named as he is not authorised to speak publicly about the case.

Tashagay Hudson is hoping the reward being offered will help speed up the process and bring some form of relief and justice for her niece.

“My niece’s attacker is still at large and we are not hearing anything, all now. It is not fair for her to be going through so much and this man is roaming the streets freely,” Hudson told the Observer. “We don’t see nobody really following up. At one point the police came and I thought they were coming to say he was caught, but they were just coming to ask how my niece was.”

The community lives in fear that the suspect will return, said Hudson.

“We need to get him off the street… Right now my family is paranoid because… we don’t know his intentions. The children are afraid to go outside and play. Even the neighbours not even want to be in their yard certain hours,” she said. “Whenever I think about it I feel so hurt and sad.”

According to the police report, on the night of November 8 the man went to Dennis’s house while she was outside speaking with a friend. Shortly after the friend left he began a conversation with Dennis about their daughter. At some point during the conversation he attacked Dennis. Her bloodied body was found by relatives the following morning at her aunt’s shop, near her house.

“Mi remember when mi get the first stab and then mi nuh remember nothing after that. Is in the morning when mi hear the noise and mi look up and see my mother and mi tell her who stab mi up. And then mi just knock out from there,” Dennis shared with the Observer from her hospital bed a few weeks ago.

“The doctor seh to how mi look when I came into the hospital, only a dead person carry that weight. So is only God why I’m here today,” she added.

Now in stable condition, she is recovering from the traumatic experience. She plans to get baptised and spend more time with family and friends as soon as she is discharged from hospital.

“My niece is looking so good and she is trying to move her toes and stuff like that. She is really strong and she is holding on,” said Hudson.

— Akera Davis