Mom furious after 18-year-old killed allegedly by lover

OCHO RIOS, St Ann — The mother of 18-year-old Jessica McLarty, who was reported missing over five months ago and whose remains were found buried in a shallow grave recently, wants the age of consent in Jamaica to be changed.

The grieving mother said that she has always argued that the age was too low, even before facing a challenge with her oldest daughter who left home at age 16 to live with the now 35-year-old man charged with her murder.

Okieff Davey of Buckfield, Ocho Rios, was charged last week, following the discovery of human remains believed to be those of McLarty on Monday, October 6.

Reports from the Ocho Rios, police are that the woman went missing on May 3, 2014. Based upon investigations carried out, Davey was taken in for questioning. After being interviewed extensively, the man reportedly gave the police information, and then led them to a farm in the neighbouring Great Pond community where they were shown a shallow grave. The grave was dug up and human remains believed to be McLarty’s were found. The remains have since been taken to the morgue where a post-mortem is expected to be done to determine the cause of death.

“I am saying this is stupid from long time before my daughter died. A 16-year-old is still a baby. Sixteen shouldn’t be the age of consent,” Hibbert said.

The mother continued: “Since dem give the age of consent a pure (only) likkle pickney the man dem want.”

Hibbert said that her daughter ran away from home to live with the accused man at age 16 and she could do nothing about it.

“The police dem tell mi say all mi have to do is pray fi her because dem can’t do anything,” Hibbert said, adding that she was told that as her child was at the age of consent, law enforcers could not charge the man with whom she was having a relationship.

“Mi ask the (boyfriend’s) stepfather fi send her home because it no look good because she is only 16,” she stated, underlining that despite that, she was unsuccessful in her efforts to get her daughter home.

She said that her daughter’s boyfriend even tried to prevent her from contacting her family because she spoke out against the relationship. According to Hibbert, her daughter did not complete her high school studies.

What is even more shocking for her family is that it was the accused man who reported McLarty missing and that he was often expressing grief that she could not be found.

“Is a very wicked man,” said one woman, who was among several who expressed shock at the tragedy.

“When him report her missing mi say something wrong,” Hibbert said, revealing that she had seen her daughter a day earlier and so she knew something was amiss.

“She nah leave fi a hour and no call or text,” the mother said, while emphasising that her daughter always tried to call or send text messages even when her boyfriend tried to prevent her from doing so.

She said that her daughter, who was planning to end the relationship, had left the home previously for several weeks without telling him where she was and he had never reported her missing.

Hibbert said that what was even more appalling was that the accused man reported her daughter missing without contacting her family, something which raised her suspicion, but she was told to allow the police to handle the matter when she wanted to do things her own way.

Hibbert said that her daughter often spoke of going to a farm with her boyfriend who did farming along with his stepfather. That was the farm where the shallow grave was found.

“I always said dem should check that place. If dem did listen to mi, then mi woulda have a body fi bury,” she expressed.

The mother now questions whether or not the accused man had an accomplice in the incident.

“I don’t feel like a him alone,” Hibbert said.

McLarty was the mother of a one-year-old child the couple shared. Following her disappearance, the child stayed with the father. However, since his arrest the child is now living with Hibbert.

Hibbert said that she insisted that she get the offspring of her eldest child. According to the mother, she was told that a sister of the accused man wanted the child. However, she is adamant that the boy should be with her.

“There is no way mi ago lose my daughter and give up my grandson,” she stated.

Hibbert said that McLarty lived with her father in Kingston until age 14 when she faced a traumatic ordeal and had to join her in St Mary. Although there were times when her daughter would disobey, Hibbert described her as a loving person.

“Jessica was a comedian. She make people laugh. She always like to meet new people,” Hibbert said.

“She was very jovial,” the teen’s younger sister quipped.

Hibbert, who disclosed that she worked hard doing vending to care for her children, said that while her daughter often refused to tell her that she was being abused, persons would inform her that her eldest child was often hit by her lover.

“She tell mi once that him tie her up wid shoes lace and hold knife on her, say him ago kill her. She also say that the man say if she go to the shop and talk to any man, him would beat her. A jealousy,” Hibbert said.

The mother is now faced with the challenge of giving her daughter a proper burial. She said that she would like to have a funeral service and burial for her daughter, but she cannot afford the cost of it and would be willing to accept any form of financial assistance.