Angelo’s mom returns to Goodwood one month after toddler’s disappearance

STEPHON NICHOLAS

GML To­ba­go Cor­re­spon­dent

One month af­ter her two-year-old son was re­port­ed miss­ing, Kali­fah To­bias made an emo­tion­al re­turn to Cam­bridge Trace, Good­wood.

Rel­a­tives of tod­dler An­ge­lo To­bias Plaza held a prayer ser­vice for the child, who is sus­pect­ed to have been mur­dered. His body has not yet been found.

To­bias was ac­com­pa­nied by her moth­er Nisa To­bias, oth­er rel­a­tives and her close fe­male friend who has been by her side through­out the or­deal.

The ser­vice was or­gan­ised by the Hunters Search and Res­cue Team (HSRT), led by com­man­der Sham­sudeen Ayube, with the bless­ing of the fam­i­ly.

Rel­a­tives lit can­dles from the house where An­ge­lo was re­port­ed miss­ing on May 11, along the route to Good­wood Bay, where his body is sus­pect­ed to have been dumped.

It was the first time To­bias re­turned to the area since she was de­tained by po­lice along­side her part­ner Shan­non Miller, 24.

Miller was charged with An­ge­lo's mur­der on May 23, while To­bias was re­leased on the in­struc­tions of the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions (DPP).

Angelo Tobias Plaza

In a brief in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia, To­bias said she re­mains dev­as­tat­ed by An­ge­lo's death and the cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing it.

She said her pres­ence at Cam­bridge Trace brought feel­ings of dis­tress and anx­i­ety. To­bias has been stay­ing with her moth­er since her re­lease from po­lice cus­tody.

The 22-year-old moth­er was de­tained af­ter re­ports emerged that Miller was the prime sus­pect in An­ge­lo's dis­ap­pear­ance.

To­bias said she re­fused to be­lieve it when po­lice in­formed her about Miller's al­leged in­volve­ment.

"I thought they were ly­ing. I did not be­lieve it," she said.

Asked how she felt about Miller now, To­bias paused briefly with a per­plexed look on her face.

"You're the first per­son who has asked me that," she said, be­fore adding, "I feel hurt and con­fused. To lose your child is one thing, but to lose your child to some­one you trust."

To­bias said life has been dif­fi­cult since her re­lease, but she has been lean­ing on the sup­port of her loved ones.

She said she does not blame peo­ple on so­cial me­dia for lash­ing out at her, but in­sist­ed they do not know the en­tire sto­ry.

Her moth­er re­mains pro­tec­tive of her men­tal health and well-be­ing.

She asked me­dia not to film her daugh­ter or they would leave Cam­bridge Trace be­fore the ser­vice even be­gan.

She said her daugh­ter has been griev­ing and that the ser­vice was her first op­por­tu­ni­ty to be among peo­ple while mourn­ing the loss of her son.

She said To­bias has been stay­ing in­doors, try­ing to shut out the noise as she process­es every­thing that has hap­pened.

Members of Hunters Search and Rescue Team with Nisa Tobias, grandmother of Angelo Tobias, Plaza, following a prayer service on Cambridge Trace, Goodwood. [Image by QUAMINA PAYNE]

QUAMINA PAYNE

Speak­ing to the me­dia af­ter the ser­vice, Ayube and the rest of the HSRT, who were among the mul­ti-agency search teams for An­ge­lo, said re­turn­ing to the child's un­oc­cu­pied for­mer home left them sad­dened.

He said the pres­ence of An­ge­lo's rel­a­tives at the ser­vice was im­por­tant as they all seek jus­tice on his be­half.

The HSRT was in Trinidad last week search­ing for an­oth­er child, 12-year-old Mer­cedez Layne, who was lat­er found mur­dered.

Ayube said the pub­lic has a du­ty of care to keep chil­dren safe.

"We have to pro­tect the young ones. If we fail to pro­tect them, they are the fu­ture, we don't know what the fu­ture will make.

"We all were small and we were pro­tect­ed by our el­ders, par­ents and com­mu­ni­ties, and we are ask­ing every­one to do the same."

The po­lice in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to An­ge­lo's death con­tin­ues.