Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator

Thirteen-year-old Shanique Stoddart still remembers the day when her mother, Lowena 'Ferris' Thompson, was controversially killed by the police at their home in Kraal, Clarendon.

She was the eight-year-old girl who Scotland Yard investigators had interviewed after the incident.

Allegations are that Shanique was taken from her mother's arms and put to sit under a tree outside. Minutes later, she heard a barrage of gunshots and then saw the body of her mother being removed from the house.

"Since the shooting incident, she has not returned to Kraal," her father, Henry Stoddart, told The Gleaner on Sunday. "Where she is now, she is attending school and doing well."

He explained that for the first three years after the incident, he would cry with Shanique over the telephone.

"She has since overcome that now, but there are times when she still talks about her mother and would just start crying," said Stoddart.

Reunion

About two years ago, Shanique was reunited with her brothers and sisters for the first time since the death of their mother. According to her father, it was an emotional scene. Stoddart is hoping that his daughter will one day be able to live with him again.

"I have to move from Kraal first. I cannot bring her back here to live, it is going to be too much for her," he said.

glenroy.sinclair@gleanerjm.com