Lost my angel
weather. We wanted that for Stefika. We wanted to take her away from the threat of being stabbed to a world we remembered as beautiful.
“When we all stepped off the plane in Jamaica we felt this was a wonderful new beginning. Stefika was so excited she said, ‘Mummy I’m going to love it here.’ She settled in quickly. She loved the sense of freedom.”
Stefika, who had been to primary school in
Brixton with her brother
Lamar, now aged 20 and living in the US – quickly adapted to her studies on the island. She enrolled at the private May Pen
High School and the family hoped she might return to Britain to go to uni.
But soon after the family arrived violence in Clarendon, the island parish of which May Pen is the largest town, steadily escalated.
The district has now declared a state of emergency because the homicide rate has hit 100 so far this year, with many of the murder victims children and teenagers.
Pauline said: “When we came back
to Jamaica with Stefika it still felt very safe. But things have deteriorated. In 2016 there was none of this thinking about killing, kidnapping, raping which there is now.”
Stefika vanished on May 10 after her family dropped her off at a student friend’s house for a sleepover.
Her frantic family reported her missing to police and organised a desperate s earch i nvolving dozens of neighbours.
Her half- brother Dwayne, 39, who still lives in the UK, even tried to track her mobile phone.
But Stefika’s body was found two days later, with her one-piece yellow bodysuit ripped at the front and signs she had put up a desperate battle for life. She had suffered a single stab wound to the throat.
Her family’s trauma was made even worse when a mobile phone picture of Stefika’s body was posted on social media before they even knew that she was dead.
They were only told of their daughter’s death when a relative in
Canada phoned and asked: “Have you seen
Facebook?”
A man and woman were arrested shortly afterwards but quickly released. There have been no further arrests.
Now the desperate
Smiths are calling on UK authorities to help put pressure on Jamaican police to get results. Fighting back tears, Pauline said: “We believed Stefika would have a better education and better life here, away from the danger of knives in London. Now of course I ask myself, did I make the right choice?
“People are supportive and say, ‘You just wanted the best for your child’. I did, but look at the cost.”
Dwayne, an engineer from Berkshire, said: “We want justice for Stefika.
“Angry is an understatement about how I feel. It is just so tragic.”
A police source close to the inquiry said: “We do have suspects in this case.”