One year after her only son Joash Pantin was murdered, Chimene Pantin, is calling for the Government to quickly establish daycare centres to ensure children are safe and secured, when their parents are at work.
Speaking with Guardian Media, Chimene recalled the horrific site of her son’s badly decomposed body which was found metres away from his Cashew Gardens home on December 3rd 2018.
It has been one year but, Chimene, now a mother of two girls, said the pain of her son’s violent death has increased.
She said, “I don’t think it is impossible for you to get closure from something like that.” She added, “What you learn to do is get up everyday and try to live because closure will never really happen.”
Chimene stated she has moved to a new address in hopes of starting a new life but, she noted there is still a constant emptiness.
Today, Joash would have been celebrating his 15th birthday abroad as his mom said he was carded to leave the country mere weeks before tragedy struck. Holding back tears during the interview, Chimene explained her son, who was a former student of Trinity College, was planning to study abroad and he was supposed to collect his passport during the week of December 3rd. She told us she has not yet found the strength to collect it.
Chimene said she and two daughters, ages 17 and 19, continue to get counselling with hopes of overcoming the grief however, she admits the pace of justice sends them right back to dwell in a hole of horror.
A 38-year-old Longdenville man, identified as Nari Maraj, has been charged with Joash’s murder and is still awaiting trial.
She stated, “This nightmare is not even over because we have to relive this when we go to court and listen to the witnesses.”
Chimene said it pains her to see that working parents, especially single mothers, don’t get proper support to ensure their children have a safe and secured environment to stay in while their parents are at work. She noted there are homework centres but no daycare centres.
She lamented, “We don’t have enough safe spaces for our children to be and we need more of that.” She stressed, “Not just for a two hours because we have single mothers who work night-shift and who work whole day and children need to be in the hands of qualified people who can be trusted.”
During his budget presentation in October, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced that Government will move to set up daycare centres across the country for children in female-headed households. These daycare centres, the Minister indicated will be open to children three years and under.