Police: Eight-year-old girl raped and murdered, suspect attempted suicide

ST ANN

Dreams of an eight-year-old schoolgirl from St Ann fresh from the Mini Miss St Ann pageant were dashed yesterday after the “promising” Talia Thompson was savagely raped and stabbed to death in her Discovery Bay community.

The news has sent shockwaves throughout the Discovery Bay Primary and Infant School, where Talia was a grade four student, said a distraught teacher who did not want to be named.

“I have known Talia from she was in grade two. Very brilliant girl,” the teacher told The Sunday Gleaner, adding that Talia was a “very promising little girl”.

“She was an all-rounder. She was reliable. This is so shocking for all of us. Really hard,” the educator said.

Talia, who was in school on Friday, recently entered the 2023 Mini Miss St Ann pageant.

Last year, she won the Mini Miss Discovery Bay title.

Parish commander Senior Superintendent Dwight Powell confirmed the incident, which reportedly happened some time after 3 p.m. on Saturday.

A 27-year-old man, believed to be a neighbour and family friend, is now in custody.

Preliminary reports suggest that the man lured the child to his house where he allegedly raped her and then stabbed her several times to her upper body.

After the act, the man reportedly attempted suicide.

Neighbours reported hearing explosions and an alert was made, before the macabre scenes were discovered.

Four locally manufactured firearms were seized.

This is the third case of an eight-year-old child being murdered since the start of the year.

Danielle Rowe was abducted as she left Braeton Primary School in Portmore, St Catherine on June 8. She was found along Roosevelt Avenue in St Andrew later that day with her throat slashed. She later died.

In February, eight-year-old Nikita Noel was raped and strangled. A man has since been convicted for her murder.