Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
Winnie Berry, Sociology teacher at the Queen's School. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer
GIVEN HER determination to succeed, Mesha-Gaye Tomlin would have fit in perfectly at yesterday's Career Day Expo at the Queen's School in St. Andrew. But last Tuesday, the 18 year-old lower sixth form student was stabbed to death by two men with whom she shared a route taxi.
The men tried to rob Mesha-Gaye of her bag and cellular phone, according to a report from the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN). When she resisted, they stabbed her in the side.
The men left the car at the Chinese Cemetery off Waltham Park Road, not far from where Mesha-Gaye lived. She died later at the Kingston Public Hospital.
SECOND SCHOOLGIRL TO DIE
Mesha-Gaye Tomlin was the second schoolgirl to die in five days. On March 10, Yanice Hall, a 17 year-old student of the Jose Marti High School in Spanish Town was stabbed aboard a bus just outside the school's entrance by a man who demanded her cellular phone. A male student, who was with Yanice, was also stabbed.
Yanice died at hospital while her friend survived. The police say they have made no arrest from either incident.
Yesterday, at the school where Mesha-Gaye attended for the past six years, the principal, Yvonne Keane-Dawes, met with her mother Irene Montaque and her stepfather. Mrs. Keane-Dawes did not go into details about their discussion, but told The Gleaner that Ms. Montaque has decided to bury her daughter in St. Elizabeth.
Mrs. Keane-Dawes says administrators at the school are planning a memorial service to honour the memory of Mesha-Gaye who had six CXC passes to her name.
Winnie Berry, Mesha-Gaye's sociology teacher, remembered her as an 'ambitious' student. According to Ms. Berry, she was determined not to let the tough environment in which she was raised, hinder her progress.
"I think Mesha represents the child able to rise despite odds," Ms. Berry told The Gleaner. She said, "I think a light is gone from her community and from the students body."
As rumours went around that the alleged taxi in which Mesha-Gaye travelled operated on the Waltham Park Road stretch,
TAXI-MEN DEMONSTRATE
Members of the Waltham Park Taxi Association gathered yesterday to distance themselves from the tragedy. Facing Henderson Avenue where Mesha-Gaye lived, the handful of taxi-men bore cardboard placards that condemned the crime and also declared their innocence.
They say they want to make it clear that the vehicle being sought by the police is not affiliated to their association.
"We are giving our support to the family and asking the passengers from Waltham to take only taxis that they know," said Pearnel LaTouche, treasurer of the association.
"You have some new taxis on the route," Mr. LaTouche said. "We don't know where they are coming from but they are not from Waltham."
