Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
Students of Whitfield Town All-Age School stand guard over the casket holding the body of Shanika Anderson, their slain schoolmate, during her funeral service at the Whitfield Town Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ashley Road, Maxfield Avenue, yesterday. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
FOR MANY who knew six-year-old Shanika Anderson, who was raped and murdered last month, yesterday was a very sad day as she was laid to rest.
Every seat was taken at the Whitfield Town Seventh-day Adventist Church on Ashley Road in Kingston, where the first funeral was held in the morning.
But for those who were unable to get a seat, the windows and the churchyard were not too uncomfortable as they squeezed tightly to peek in on the service inside.
Tears and anguish marked the funeral service as tributes in song and remembrance were poured out from family members and her schoolmates from the Whitfield Town All-Age School and the St. Francis Basic School.
PLAYFUL LITTLE GIRL
Her cousin, Omar Ebanks, who gave the remembrance, described Shanika as a playful little girl who he said, although the youngest, was the brightest of the five children for parents Ruth Green and Harold Anderson.
"... To talk about Shanika, it would take days. She was a star, she is still a star that is shining in our hearts. She will be sadly missed by her family, relatives and many friends," he said.
Portia Simpson Miller, Member of Parliament for the constituency (St. Andrew South Western), also expressed her regret at the passing of Shanika but used the occasion to urge the community to join hands with the police to take Jamaica back from the hands of criminals.
"Are we as people going to decide to say enough is enough? It must stop now! And are we willing to join forces to take back our communities and to save this country from the hands of the wicked?" she asked.
FAILING TO LOOK OUT FOR ITS OWN
She pointed out that it was not good enough for us to express sympathy but that it required every Jamaican to find the solutions to the problems affecting the country.
"We need to return to the days when the children in a community were the communities' children, to give true meaning to the African proverb, 'It takes a village to raise a child'," she said.
Mrs. Simpson Miller noted that the love and care the community used to have, has been destroyed and as a result the community is failing to look out for its own.
Shanika was reported missing by her mother on Saturday, April 30. A young boy who was searching for his dog found her body the following day in Rae Town.
The police report said Shanika appeared to have been sexually assaulted before she was strangled to death. The police are yet to find her killer.
