Slickianna’s family traumatised by death images
Published:Wednesday | October 26, 2022 | 12:09 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
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The image of Aneka ‘Slickianna’ Townsend’s partially nude, decomposing body floating in the sea at Reading, St James, still haunts her uncle, Rohan Lennard. It was the last one he saw of his fashionista niece who took so much pride in her...
The image of Aneka ‘Slickianna’ Townsend’s partially nude, decomposing body floating in the sea at Reading, St James, still haunts her uncle, Rohan Lennard.
It was the last one he saw of his fashionista niece who took so much pride in her appearance. He is broken.
“Long time mi nuh cry, and from mi see it, every day mi cry,” he said.
He told The Gleaner that he wished the person who first started circulating the image on social media had given thought to how it would have affected the family.
“Memba when you taking a picture, it’s somebody’s family; it can be your family, too ... ,” he said.
“Sometimes you take a picture and that can be your background, and you did not know ‘cause Jamaica is so small.”
Lennard was among the scores of relatives and friends who gathered at Chelsea Avenue on Monday to mourn the 35-year-old influencer at a candlelight vigil.
Remembering his niece as a kind and family-oriented person, affectionately called ‘Dumpling’, Lennard shared that he had a premonition ahead of the discovery of her corpse.
“She is somebody’s daughter and nobody nuh supposed to go that way. Somebody just throw dem way like that. Nobody nuh deserve that, nuh matter what they do,” Lennard told The Gleaner.
Marie Ice learnt that her long-time friend was dead when she stumbled on harrowing photos and videos on social media.
“I was traumatised, real hurt, drop down,” she said.
But she is especially concerned about the impact these might have on Townsend’s 12-year-old son.
“We know he’s hurting, so we’re very concerned. Him must see it, because you can’t control what people post, because kids are on social media now,” Marie Ice said.
Townsend’s uncle, Donovan McEwan, sat away from the crowd that grew larger as the night wore on.
He is still in denial about the death of his eldest niece.
“Mi still can’t believe. Mi break down; all now mi still break down,” he said.
The police have listed Rushane Patterson as a person of interest in her death and have launched a manhunt for him.
Patterson has had other run-ins with the law, including murder, attempted murder, and rape charges dating back to 2013.
That case crumbled four years later because of lack of evidence and a witness no-show.