Five-year-old Evan Sebastian Spencer, who was killed in Frankfield, Clarendon, on the weekend.

Finding a five-year-old boy with his throat slashed would leave any community in Jamaica shocked, despite the numbness caused by the rampaging crime monster which has left more than 560 people dead across the island since the start of the year.

But for the people of Frankfield, Clarendon, the killing of Evan Sebastian Spencer is even more painful as they wrestle with the feeling that they could have done something to help him.

The residents yesterday painted a picture of squalor endured by Evan in the relatively short time he was alive.

They showed The Gleaner a dark and mouldy cellar in a partially abandoned building no more than seven feet by seven feet where Evan and his father lived.

The smelly, small area had no light, no running water and no way for fresh air to enter the room. It contained a sponge for a bed, a chest of drawers and precious little else by way of furniture.

"Sometimes him ... lock up in deh for days and the only thing you see was him little eyes peeking out from the crack at the bottom of the door ... " one resident told The Gleaner.

Driven to act

While other residents worried about Evan and quietly wondered how he was doing, Joan Mitchell's fears drove her to act.

"Last week Wednesday me sit at me stall and me say to me friend, 'A long time me no see the baby ... '," Mitchell said.

She said she called a district constable (DC) who was based at the nearby Frankfield Police Station and told him her concerns.

"The DC tell me say him get transfer to Spaldings but him send some other police ... .

"To be truthful, me did see the baby Thursday but that is the last day me would see him alive," Mitchell said as she almost burst into tears.

Other neighbours related similar stories of concern for the young boy.

Evan's mother died two years ago.

"Last month, for about two weeks ... the boy lock up inna the cellar," another clearly angry woman added.

Evan attended Frankfield Primary and Infant School where he was a pupil in the infant one class.

"Last month he was missing from school for a long time but, before that, he attended regularly," Heather Carr, a teacher, said as she pored over the register.

"He was such a loving child. When I passed him on the road in the mornings with his father catching water, he would say, 'Morning, Teacher' and not stopping until I heard," Carr added.

It was a similar story from a caregiver at the school who asked not to be named.

"Evan was quiet and well-mannered and, because he had a speech problem, most times he did not speak," the caregiver said.

Young Evan's body was found in the house he shared with his father in the heart of Frankfield about 2:30 Sunday morning.

Investigators have taken the father and another man into custody but, up to late yesterday, neither had been charged.


RIP Evan Sebastian Spencer