POLICE are trying to decide whether or not they should charge a woman for

taking almost a year to report that her daughter had gone missing.

According to the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN), the police information arm, Latoya Thomas, aged 18 of Point Hill, St Catherine, went missing in July, 2009. Her mother, however, only reported the matter to the police last Monday.

"She was questioned but she has not been charged," an official at the CCN told

the Observer.

"The investigators were looking at several ways to charge her because of the fact that she took so long to report the incident, but according to them she really never did anything," the offiicial said.

The CCN official said that the woman told police that she did not report her daughter's disappearance to the police because she was fearful that doing so would cause her not to want to return home.

It was not immediately clear yesterday, however, whether or not it was the first time that Thomas had left home.

Thomas, who is of dark complexion, medium build, and about five feet, seven inches tall, vanished after she left home for Spanish Town, St Catherine, on an errand.

She was wearing a pair of blue jeans trousers, a black blouse, and a pair of black slippers at the time, the police said.

Anyone with information about her whereabouts is being asked to call the Point Hill Police at 709-5079, 119, or contact the nearest police station.