WATCH: Golding visits Haile Selassie High after murder of student
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding visited Haile Selassie High on Tuesday to offer his support to the school community following last week’s murder of 14-year-old Price Johnson, a ninth-grade student of the institution.
“I just had to pass through this morning and speak with the students and the teachers just to let them know that we care about them and that they’re important and that they’re as good as anybody else and that they deserve our support as they go through the trauma of an event like this,” Golding said.
Johnson was at home in Palm Grove Court on Spanish Town Road last Thursday when a man forced his way into the apartment and sexually assaulted her. Initial reports said she was stabbed multiple times and bludgeoned. She was rushed to Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) where she succumbed to her injuries.
“We are calling on the community to do whatever it takes to support the work of the police in trying to bring her murderer to justice,” Golding said.
A 38-year-old man has been charged with multiple serious offences, including murder, in relation to the brutal killing. Police named the man as Imanie Niah Lydner, an unemployed resident of Crescent Road in Kingston 13.
READ: Man charged in gruesome murder of 14-y-o girl
In the meantime, principal of Haile Selassie High Anniona Jones expressed her gratitude to Golding and others who have supported the school community in their time of grief.
“We had members of the police force who have been with us. We had grief counsellors coming to us from other organisations as well. We’re also expecting additional support to be coming to our institution throughout the week. We are very blessed to feel the support of so many persons,” Jones said.
In the meantime, Price’s mother Eugene Wade said she will leave her child’s killer’s fate up to God.
“I say God knows best. And who killed my daughter, I really don’t want to know, because you hide from me, but you cannot hide from God,” she told Observer Online when our news team visited her at her home on Tuesday.
