ÐÓ°ÉÐÔ°É

Having found out she was pregnant with her second child almost nine years ago, Prudence Griffiths was overjoyed.

It was smooth sailing through her trimesters, but close to her due date, the heartbeat of her unborn child dropped significantly, and Griffiths prayed that his little life would be spared. An emergency C-section was done and her little bundle of joy, Navardo Blackburn, entered the world.

"He was a loving baby and very lively. Him loving and would just make everyone laugh. When him was about three, mi notice say he was different and then we found out he had autism, but mi love mi son with mi entire heart. Him very loving and him love to play. As much as him autistic, mi baby very helpful eno. Sometimes him would go by the gate and have conversations with the man dem," she said.

Unfortunately, Griffiths will never again hear Navardo's laughter as his body was found in the back of an old car parked outside of a gate on an avenue, in Gregory Park, St Catherine. The eight-year-old was last seen on Friday at a playing field just a few minutes away from his home.

"Mi belly stir up and mi a feel a piece a pain inna mi belly. Mi son would not go in a car go lay down, someone do him something. Mi son inn him blue stripe merino and him green underpants, same thing him have on Friday. Is mi son in the car oh God," she said between tears.

Navardo, along with his three siblings, ages 15, five, and four years, were left in the care of their grandmother on Friday. She told THE STAR that she left the children briefly to collect food at a nearby fish fry. She said she immediately went searching for Navardo and his younger siblings. She spotted them by a playing field, about five minutes away. As she made her way towards the children, young Navardo saw her and dashed into an avenue. That was the last time she laid eyes on him. Prior to the gruesome discovery, the news team, along with Griffiths, a police team from the Caymanas Police Station, and a handful of good Samaritans, continued searching for the youngster. Searches were conducted along Dyke Road and the banks of the Rio Cobre. Disappointed, broken and frustrated, Griffiths and a few women began their journey home. But the women began searching along the same avenue where Navardo was last seen, and it was there that they noticed an old car being swarmed with flies with an accompanying unbearable stench.

Griffiths was immediately moved to tears and as she leaned on this reporter for support, she stated that she had a gut feeling that her son's body was the reason for the flies and foul odour. As she awaited the police's arrival, the tears flowed freely as a few of her loved ones offered comforting words. A large crowd converged on the scene. Inside the parked vehicle, a body lay in the trunk partially covered by cardboard and a few crates. Griffiths breathed a temporary sigh of relief as a police officer informed her that the body appeared to be that of an adult male. For the first time that day, she cracked a small smile - which disappeared just minutes later. Little Navardo's body was identified by his uncle and later Griffiths.

"Woii, is mi son, weh mi ago do now? Is mi baby in the car. Is the flies we see and decide to stop and call the police. Mi poor baby," she cried. Onlookers cried openly while others looked on in shock while crying foul play.

"This little boy don't go road eno and there is no way him would open the car and go in there go lay down. From Sunday mi a smell something but we think is a dog. Him wouldn't go in the car go dead because autistic or not, him would start cry or beat the window. Furthermore the car parked in front of a gate so there is no way him would go in there and no one knows. All of this sad and crazy," a woman told THE STAR.

The pain of Member of Parliament for St Catherine East Central, Alando Terrelonge, was evident as he spoke about yesterday's ordeal.

"As someone who has an autism child and has dealt with children with autism, it is very sad. The first thing that comes to mind is a child playing who doesn't really understand the dangers around him. We understand that he was out playing and his grandmother called him and he ran off but children will be children and especially for children with learning disabilities it is always fun for them," he said.