Fate of dad, stepmom depends on post-mortem report
Police reports are that the child’s stepmother heard her groaning on Monday morning and made checks. It is said that the child complained about feeling unwell and was taken to Linstead Public Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
A few hours after she died, police took her father and stepmother into custody based on “certain observation” regarding the body.
Since Tianna’s mother’s death the child had been residing with her father and stepmother.
Investigators are awaiting a post-mortem report to determine whether her father and stepmother should be charged.
In the meantime, the child’s maternal relatives said they had tried on numerous occasions to have the minor spend time with them, but to no avail.
One of them said she had been assured on different occasions that the child was not being abused, but that she got hurt while playing.
Ian Edwards, one of the child’s maternal uncles, told the Jamaica Observer that her late sister wanted her family to have custody of the minor.
“On numerous occasions we asked just for visitation, for them to send Tianna over for a weekend [with us]. Many times her father comes with every excuse in the world and not allowing her [to visit her family],” he claimed. “To be honest, that actually raised a red flag, but I was mostly abroad. If I were on the ground I would have been more adamant to know what’s going on.”
“I feel like I let down my sister big time. Her dying wish to me was that I should take care of my little niece [who is now dead] and her son,” Edwards said, while describing his late niece as having “a lovely, bubbly character”.
Sherene Francis, one of the child’s maternal aunts, told the Observer that her family had been informed that Tianna was allegedly being abused. “But wi didn’t have nuh proof, because wi not seeing the child,” she said.
Francis further stated that one of the reasons Tinanas relatives were trying to get her to visit regularly was so they could stay in the know regarding her well-being.