In response to a series of heartbreaking incidents involving children, including a tragedy that struck their own community just last month, students of Goodwood Methodist Primary School in Tobago took to the streets on Friday for a walkathon aimed at raising awareness about child protection.
The event comes one month after the disappearance of two-year-old Angelo Tobias-Plaza of Goodwood. His stepfather, Shannon Miller, has since been arrested in connection with the child’s alleged killing.
The circumstances surrounding the case have shocked and saddened residents, leaving the community grappling with grief and unanswered questions.
Acting Principal of Goodwood Methodist Primary School Lecia Lashley-Franklyn said the incident has had a profound impact on students, many of whom have been deeply affected by the tragedy.
“Most of the children were really hurt because we have students who were neighbours as well, and you know they had their own thoughts and feelings on it, so with that we tried our best with our social workers and guidance counsellors to talk with them. We had different sessions with them.”
Mrs Lashley-Franklyn acknowledged that guiding the children through the case has been difficult, as many were curious and eager to understand what had happened.
“Even with the tragedy there, it doesn’t have any closure for us because nobody knows exactly what happened, but we have a lot of speculation, so through all this we have to tell the children be careful of the conversations that they take and go with because nobody sure of what really happened.”
The Acting Principal said the case of missing Angelo, along with other reports of heinous crimes against children, resulted in the students feeling the need to send a message to their community.
“So it is actually to bring awareness to persons in the community, parents as well, because we observe as well that most of these crimes against these children is because of lack of supervision, lack of parental supervision.”
The walkathon also received support from the Goodwood Village Council. Its President, Brent Smith, expressed deep concern over the continued reports of crimes against children and urged that harsher penalties be imposed.
“Severe punishment, I would recommend the whipping of these people as a punishment, cat-o’-nine, hangings, more severe dealing with people where child killing is concerned.”
Meanwhile, a field officer for the electoral district, David Smith, admitted the community is far from being healed.
“It’s heartrending to see how children are suffering, and as villagers we are all concerned and we will do our utmost best to ensure that children’s safety is the high priority of the village.”