Girl’s mother feels ‘let down’

Although Kimberly St Louis is grateful her daughter has been safely located, she says she has been let down by her behaviour on social media during the past month.

She said she was also disheartened by the adults who she believed were harbouring her daughter Tanik Jemmott and her friend Runeka Husbands who were reported missing since early April.

After police issued a missing persons reports for the two 14-year-olds, of Haynesville, St James, there was plenty discussions online about their “disappearance”. It heightened after videos of the girls dancing were circulated on Instagram.

“I am glad that they are okay but it is disappointing . . . especially when they were on Instagram skinning their behind. From what I saw, they were both having a blast.

“It was ridiculous. It was making a mockery of us as parents and the police. It was wrong,” St Louis reiterated during a telephone interview yesterday.

On Saturday, acting communications and public affairs officer at the Barbados Police Service, Inspector Stephen Griffith, warned the public that it was a criminal offence to harbour the minors, adding that perpetrators could face prosecution.

On Sunday, he reported that after three weeks, the missing juveniles were found and were in police custody.