(Barbados Nation) The two children whose mother was killed in a Swan Street salon almost a month ago will now be cared for by a maternal aunt in Barbados.
The six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter of Guyanese nail technician Onica King went into their aunt’s care after Onica’s mother Vivian Jones left the island last week, returning to her native Guyana.
Jones had originally indicated she wanted to seek legal custody of the children.
Director of the Child Care Board, Joan Crawford, made it clear the agency had not taken custody of the two children after their mother’s untimely death.
“The Child Care Board has not been involved in the care of the children. After the incident with their mother occurred, the maternal aunt came forward to take care of them. At the moment their welfare is not an official case of the Child Care Board,” she confirmed.
Crawford also said the care and education of the children would now be the aunt’s responsibility.
She noted, however, that Jones would have had to seek custody of the children through the law courts if she wanted to take them back to Guyana, where the family originates.
Jones was finally able to obtain Onica’s body from local authorities the final week of April, and the 36-year-old was taken back to the land of her birth, and buried last Thursday in the capital of Georgetown.
The maternal aunt was contacted recently through an intermediary, but indicated she and the family would not be conducting any media interviews and simply wanted to move on with their lives after Onica’s gruesome death.
Meanwhile, Onica’s estranged husband David King remains at large.
Rumours have run rampant that a body discovered off the rocks near the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex a fortnight ago was that of the wanted man, but police still have not officially released an identification of the body.
“There hasn’t been any change in that matter. Other forms of identification such as dental records are being considered by the pathologist who conducted an autopsy on the body,” said police public relations officer Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss.
According to the lawman, they are waiting on DNA results which could also confirm the identity.
