PRISON!

Saturday is one day ‘s family will want to forget, but will always remember. It was on that day the eight-month pregnant woman was shot dead by a policeman in the Yallahs square, St Thomas, and her sister shot and injured.

Now the family is left to face the fact that not only will they have to go on without her, but they will have to painstakingly explain to her two remaining children, ages nine and five, why they will see their mother no more and who is responsible.

The grief and anger were evident in Logwood district, Yallahs, yesterday, as family and friends gathered at her home to express their shock and show support.

last conversation

Her father, Eric, remembered Kay-Ann, who was his second of seven children, as a comedian. This caused persons to always want to be in her company. “She was a friendly person. Everyone liked her,” he recalled in a dejected tone. “She liked to give jokes, she was a little joker.”

He recounted the last conversation he had with her a few days before her death. “She seh to mi, ‘daddy suppose you see how mommy get fat, a now u woulda want fi deh back with mommy’,” he said, adding that his daughter was unemployed at the time of her death but was by no means unemployable as she was skilled at doing nails and weaving hair.

As the small group stood at the entrance to the house, some bowed and shook their heads, others looked on in bewilderment, yet others were too overcome with anger to show any other emotion.

One thing was evident, everyone condemned the killing as they remembered Kay-Ann, the life she lived, and knew she didn’t deserve such a gruesome ‘send off’.

Kay-Ann’s stepmother, Naomi Mcleod, who nurtured her from childhood, told THE STAR that she was angry at the incident. She reasoned that Kay-Ann had made plans to find out the sex of her unborn child next week as she was scheduled to undergo an ultrasound.

Kay-Ann’s shooting occurred in full view of several people, maybe none were more affected than her sister, Chem, who was with her sisters when they were shot. In fact, she narrowly escaped death as she alleges that the gun was pointed at her following her sisters’ shooting.

Chem said she and her sisters had just returned from shopping in Kingston where Kay-Ann’s handbag containing her cellphone and other things were stolen. This, she. said, is what caused Kay-Ann to use an expletive as she cursed about losing her phone.

“We come from town and come off a bus and we a talk and meanwhile we a talk she curse a bad word, and a police come up to her and said him overhear her curse a bad word,” Chem recalled.

She said the cop tried to take Kay-Ann who refused claiming that everyone uses expletives, including the police themselves. She said as other police officers watched the incident unfolded.

It is alleged that the lawman drew his weapon and shot Kay-Ann in the head. She immediately fell to the ground and was shot again – in the head. The other sister she said, was then shot in the shoulder.

injured women

It was then that the other police officers ran over. Some placed the injured women in a jeep and took them to hospital while others took the policeman into the Yallahs Police Station nearby.

By this time, residents who had witnessed the incident became irate and began blocking the square and calling for justice. The demonstration continued until late in the night forcing cops to call for reinforcement to bring things under control.

Yesterday, the police said the cop involved in the incident has since been removed from front-line duty and his family placed under protection.

The Independent Commission of Investigations has launched a probe into the matter.