WEARING a cast below the left knee, the 12-year-old girl who survived the recent shooting in Claxton Bay that left her mother and stepfather dead, limped her way into a funeral home on Friday to pay her final respects.
The crying girl, who also had stitches to her head, and her sister, 14, were accompanied into Celestial Funeral Services Ltd at Southern Main Road minutes before the funeral for their mother Asha George ended.
Relatives said the injured girl was earlier discharged from the San Fernando General Hospital.
As people viewed the body, relatives consoled the girls who stood over the casket. The sisters gazed at George's body as other mourners passed by.
On May 11, George, 30, and her boyfriend Devon Drayton, 35, were shot dead on a mattress inside the family's one-bedroom wooden house at Hill Top Drive, Springvale. The standard five student was shot in the head and left foot. Another relative fled the house and escaped being shot.
Drayton, a former national Under-23 and Under-20 footballer, moved into the area last year.
Bishop Mark Toby of the Shouter Baptist faith officiated at the funeral. He told mourners that God knows everything - beginning to ending.
Toby said many people choose to go to Beres Hammond shows "and everywhere else, than go church."
He added that the church cannot save people as "sometimes the church has more demons inside than out there."
Toby reiterated that Jesus is the way, the searcher of hearts.
"Whatever people choose to do, at the end of it, everyone, including the pastor, pundit, and imam, has to answer on judgement day," Toby told mourners.
The bishop charged that there are several signs of the times. He cited natural disasters, homosexuality, wars, rumours of wars and children having children.
"You walk into the church, see a brother, and do not know if to call him sister or brother," Toby said.
"Jesus gives us choices. Whatever you do, there are consequences. But you have an opportunity to live right."
A "dear friend" identified only as "Ms Ann" said the eulogy. Wiping away tears, she said George had dreams for herself and her children.
"She wanted to move out of the community. She had dreams for her children. She wanted them to finish school. She had honest aspirations and dreams, as any mother would. I remember times when she was feeling low. I would tell her whatever I had, she would get," Ann said.
"She was like a daughter to me. I advised her to the best of my ability. I am praying that her family and friends learn from her mistakes as well as the good she did. I want her children to know that the same way I was there for her, I will be there for them."
George's killing was not the first tragedy for the family.
On March 14, 1999, George's father, SRP Eric George, shot and killed his wife and George's mother Tara George, mere metres from the family's house. He then shot and killed himself.
SRP George was a household name in the 1990s for his uncanny ability to pick out and arrest people mainly for having marijuana.
George's body
