Last Thursday, when Danay Baker-Smith dressed her seven-year-old daughter, Janelle Smith, and sent her off to school, she had no idea that a few hours later her child would be dead.

In fact, just one night earlier, the 25-year-old mother was singing and dancing with her daughter.

Janelle, a grade-two student of a primary school in St Thomas, died last week after collapsing while playing in the schoolyard. No post-mortem has been conducted as yet, so her family, the school and those who knew her, still have no idea how she died.

Baker-Smith told THE STAR she was at home last Thursday when she got the call that shattered her world. "They called me from the school and said something happened to her at school and they took her out to the hospital and that I must come out there," she recalled.

She said death was the farthest thing from her mind when she received the call and thought her daughter had just received a slight injury. "I was looking that maybe is her head get burst or something, so I grabbed a towel and went to the hospital," she said.

To make matters worse, Baker-Smith received the grim news, not from a team of comforting doctors or nurses, but rather from a group of onlookers who gathered on the hospital grounds.

"When I got there," she said, "I saw a crowd discussing it and that's where I heard that she had died."

Still clinging to the smallest thread of hope, the shocked mother did not believe what she was told. "Even when I saw her lying on the bed, I was still trying to get at least one heartbeat, but I neva get none," she said.

clueless

Baker-Smith, who has two other children, ages two years and six months, has no idea what could have led to her daughter's death. She said the child had no known illnesses and was not complaining of feeling ill. She said not knowing what killed her daughter is the hardest part.

She said, "She leave here good good go to school, so mi frighten fi hear seh dat happen. I would feel better if I knew what happened, but we are still asking the question, 'what really happened?'. I just really want the post-mortem to be done because there are a lot of questions in our mind."

She explained that the family was struggling to come to grips with the tragedy. "She was everyone's eyeball, as she was the first grandchild on my side and the first granddaughter on her father's side."

Her mother described Janelle as an excellent child who was very loving. She said, "She always use to write love notes for me, seh 'I love you mommy'."

"I'm just taking it one day at a time, crying here and there when I remember her. That was her happiest week. She went to convention Sunday and she sang on the children's choir," the grieving mother said.

The principal of the school confirmed the incident and is also awaiting the post-mortem.