Siblings go missing during Christmas tree lighting event in Montego Bay

The relatives of 14-year-old Kimoya Gordon and 10-year-old Recali Smith are issuing an urgent plea for help in locating the siblings who reportedly went missing while attending Sunday's Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Montego Bay, St James.

The children's mother, Daneil Tennant, says they were in the company of their grandmother at the annual event in Sam Sharpe Square at the time of their disappearance.

“They went to Parade [Sam Sharpe Square] last night with my mother, their grandmother, for the lighting of the Christmas tree. However, my mother said she ready, she nah wait till the event over, because the place too crowded,” Tennant recounted.

“My daughter deh insist seh she nuh ready, she nuh ready, so my mother started to get upset on them, a tell them fi come on, because she had my other nephew with her, and him have autism. My mother entered through the crowd with them fi go to the bus stop, and by time she turn around and look, she nuh see them,” Tennant continued.

She said a report has been filed at the Montego Hills Police Station.

Kimoya, a student of Holland High School in Hanover, was last seen wearing a blue spaghetti-strap crocheted top and a pair of blue ripped jeans with black crocs footwear. Recali, who attends Chetwood Primary School in St James, was last seen in a white T-shirt, a pair of cut-off jeans and a pair of grey and white sneakers.

Joan Lawrence, Recali's paternal grandmother, noted that attempts to contact Recali via his cellular phone have proven futile.

“He saw me last night and hugged me and said he would see me tomorrow, which is Tuesday. This morning, I got a call saying they can't find the two from last night. Recali has a phone, and we have been calling the phone from last night and not getting nothing. The police called it too, and same way nothing,” Lawrence lamented.

Anyone who has seen 14-year-old Kimoya Gordon and 10-year-old Recali Smith is being asked to contact Montego Hills Police Station, 119, or the nearest police station.

- Ashley Anguin

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