KINGSTON, Jamaica – The family of four-year-old Jordaine Clarke is demanding answers in relation to the death of their loved one, scoffing at reports from school officials and the police that the child was left for several hours in a car outside a basic school in Rollington Town. 

Family members are questioning the teacher’s account based on the untidy nature of Jordaine’s clothes which they say could not be possible if he was left in the vehicle,  as his clothes were clean when he boarded the educator’s car for school on Thursday.

“Mi baby dutty… and she (the teacher) say him nuh come out a di car. How di hell you fi bring pickney come a school and di rest a dem come out a di car and one lef back and yuh nuh know and yuh a him teacher?” questioned a grief-stricken Curtis Clarke, father of the deceased. 

Another piece of evidence that punches holes into the teacher’s account of the events, Jordaine’s aunt, Tabia said, is that only one of his shoes was reportedly found in the vehicle.

“One foot a shoes deh inna the car wit di baby. Where is the next foot a shoes? Di next foot a shoes can’t find,” she told OBSERVER ONLINE on Friday.

“Di baby pants yah so dirty up. Mi can show yuh di picture pan di phone; mi can show yuh how him come a school,” the deceased aunt said, showing a photograph of Jordaine neatly dressed on the morning of the tragedy.

“When we go di hospital go look pan di baby, yah so a di pants dirty up. Di baby dirty!” she contended. 

Reports reaching OBSERVER ONLINE are that the tragedy unfolded after the boy and other children were transported to the school by a teacher about 9:00 am on Thursday. 

The other children exited the vehicle but the boy was not removed from the car.

Hours later, the teacher discovered that the child was still in the car.

The boy was reportedly taken to Bustamante Hospital for Children where he was pronounced dead.

Tabia told OBSERVER ONLINE that another aunt went to the school on the day and did not see the little boy.

On receiving that information, she said the child’s grandmother contacted his class teacher half- an- hour before the school’s closure at 1:30 pm on Thursday.

“When di granny call her (the teacher) she ago say, ‘Everting alright. We soon come,” recalled Tabia, adding that the teacher did not indicate that anything was wrong at that time. 

The child’s grandmother waited but did not see the teacher or Jordaine arrive home.

“After 3(o’clock), di grandmother haffi mek a next phone call… di teacher nuh badda answer di phone… di principal answa di phone,” she recounted.

Tabia said the principal informed that the teacher took her nephew to the hospital, but she did not know why they went to the St Joseph’s Hospital. 

The mother reportedly went to the hospital, but Jordaine was not there.

“A Children’s (Hospital) dem go go see di baby dead. Lifeless,” the child’s aunt said as her voice cracked during the interview.

“Lunch pay fah. Di baby nuh get nuh lunch,” she pointed out.

Clarke said he could not describe how he felt about losing his son, as he searched for answers into the questionable circumstances that led to his loved one’s death.

“Him (Jordaine) dutty like di she (the teacher) beat him or lick him dung. Mi nuh know weh she do him. But she say him nuh come out a di car. How him dutty? Him lef out clean yesterday morning,” the upset father reasoned. 

“It nuh add up! Four-year-old can’t lef inna car in space a four hour or five hour and suffocate. You know that to. Him would a knock out. Him nah dead in the space a four hour,” Clarke told OBSERVER ONLINE. 

Clarke says he wants to speak with the teacher to find out what truly happened. 

Several calls he has made to the school’s principal have also gone unanswered, he said.

“Right now mi confused. Mi paranoid, ’cause come like dem know wah dem a do up yah. Dat alone mi can pree… and dem wit wah gwaan.”