The murder of Shelly-Ann Gordon, a student of Frome Technical High School in Westmoreland, is the third tragic incident involving a student of that school in just under two weeks.

Gordon, 14, was found dead in bushes near her home after she was abducted from her house at Hatfield in the parish on Sunday.

According to her father, all four occupants of their house were at home about 9:30 p.m. when a gunman entered and demanded money. "Me tell him say me only have three hundred dollars, two one hundred and two fifty dollar and him take it."

Lie face down

He said the gunman tied him up, set him to lie face down and proceeded to tie up two other relatives before escaping with Shelly-Ann.

The police were called and a search for Shelly-Ann was launched. Due to darkness, the search was abandoned, but continued yesterday when the teen's body was found with the throat slashed.

Signs of a struggle

It has not yet been confirmed whether she was sexually assaulted. But what is obvious is that Shelly-Ann did not go down without a fight as they are visible signs of a struggle and her hair was partially ripped off her head.

Shelly-Ann's grade supervisor said that she "was a very jovial and an avid sports fan". She was part of the Under-15 netball team at her school.

Her death comes one week after one of her schoolmates was shot and injured by gunmen at his home in Smithfield in the community. A few days before this incident, a grade-seven student was killed by a car while crossing the Petersfield main road. He was attending a relative's wake.

Counselling sessions have been arranged for the students who are grieving and will continue throughout this week.