By Azara Lavia
“I just want justice for my daughter, whoever the killer or killers are, I just want them to be brought to justice,” said Asabi Charles, the mother of 15-year old homicide victim, Achazia James told Observer yesterday.
James, of Fort Road, became the country’s 10th homicide for the year, after her body was discovered at Runaway Beach on Sunday morning.
Speaking exclusively to Observer, Charles shared the details of how she found out about her daughter’s grizzly murder.
“ I got up {Sunday] morning, me and my two daughters; Achazia wasn’t in her bed. I checked her sister’s room. She wasn’t there. I went into the PMI chat and I saw a news item, woman found with chop wounds about her body. Anyway, I was like ‘again’”.
“I began making calls. I couldn’t get them so I was worried, I ended up now and I got her, but I wasn’t getting Achazia”. So I was like Strange. I called her friend and I asked if she was there. She said no, they didn’t go to the show. I was like, huh? Anyway, I called her back.“
She further disclosed that she called the nearest police station to report that her two daughters went out the night prior but did not return home.
“I called the station and I made a report and I said to them ‘you know, my two girls went out last night and I’m not getting them’, and I gave the details of both of them and everything. I was just hoping that I would get some sort of information. Anyway, the police said they’re going to look into it.
“When I went back into the group, a message came in, I saw a view once photo, all I saw was the marking on my daughter’s shirt, that’s all. To be honest, I was already feeling that something was wrong. That feeling came over me because I was like father God, please let my kids be okay, and I ran outside the house and said ‘murder, murder them murder ma pickney, them murder my pickney’.”
The aggrieved mother is pleading with the general public to cease and desist from sharing the horrific photograph of the crime scene. She said it is causing further pain and anguish to the family. They are calling for empathy and the responsible use of social media in this extremely difficult time.
“Please stop sending around these pictures, it so gruesome. It’s affecting us. Literally, it’s affecting her grandfather and honestly, her youngest sibling, which is her brother, he has not seen this picture and I really don’t want him to see these pictures. I don’t want him to remember his sister in that way. I don’t want to remember my daughter in that way, I did not even go to identify my daughter’s body yesterday because that’s not how I want to remember her. We are grieving. Give us the time to mourn and get it over with. You know, show some sort of empathy,” she appealed.
The aggrieved mother said she wants justice for her daughter, and she will fight for her daughter until the killer or killers are brought to justice.
“I just want justice, whoever the killer or the killers are. I just want them to be brought to justice. I won’t even say certain things, but I just want them to be brought to justice.
“They will be brought to justice because Achazia has a full-fledged team behind of her and I know with my family and my close friends, our tears and prayers to God [are] not going to let them go unpunished … He is definitely not going to let them go unpunished. I just want justice for my child. This is one case, I leave into the hands of the Lord and I know it would not go unpunished”.
Law enforcement officers have launched a high-level investigation into the gruesome murder, and the Police Public Relations Officer, Inspector Frankie Thomas confirmed that James was reportedly last seen alive just after 3am on Sunday and she was pronounced dead at 8:53am.
Members of the public have expressed shock and sorrow over the ‘cruel and senseless killing’ of the teenager, who was a student at Princess Margaret School.
The mother remembers her daughter as beautiful, intelligent and ambitious, and she will be greatly missed.
