GRADE A’s FOR RACHAEL

An autopsy would later reveal she was manually strangled.

To date, her killer remains at large.

Yesterday __ International Women’s Day - the teen’s relatives revealed to Newsday, that Rachael secured three passes with distinctions as CSEC results were released by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC). Last May, Rachael who was a student of Northern Eastern College in Sangre Grande, sat her Math and English A exams, for which she obtained Grades I with distinctions.

On January 10, the Form Four student sat her Principles of Business (POB) and Social Studies exams, for which she obtained Grade I (with distinction) and Grade II respectively. Tragically, Rachael did not live to bask with her family, in the joy and pride on seeing the fruits of her hard scholastic work.

Grandmother Kamla Ramkissoon said the teen wrote the Social Studies exam three days before she was murdered. On January 13, a hunter stumbled upon Rachael’s body at Balata Trace in San Raphael. Ramkissoon sobbed as she read the CSEC results for Newsday. She added that her granddaughter had a bright future ahead of her and was working towards acquiring a scholarship at CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination), to further her studies.

“Rachael was such a brilliant girl. She was always in her books.

She was the bright star and great hope of our family. I knew she would have done well in all her examinations,” Ramkissoon said.

“She told us she wanted to sign up to write four more subjects in January which were PoB, Social Studies , Human and Social Biology and Office Administration.” Anything Rachael put her mind to, she succeeded at, Ramkissoon said.

“She would study night and day and put in the work. My little girl got another distinction in POB, but she was robbed of the opportunity to write the HSB and Office Administration examinations because someone squeezed the life out of her,” the elderly woman cried.

And as the nation observed International Women’s Day yesterday, Ramkissoon said the day is meaningless as too many women in this country, too many girls, too many innocent people are at risk of being kidnapped, raped, assaulted or murdered.

“Women can no longer walk the streets without fear. Girls can’t walk to school anymore. I can’t celebrate Women’s Day knowing this is the state my country has reached, knowing that for the rest of my life I have to live with the pain of Rachael’s murder, when she should have been protected.

Imagine she missed her school bus and ended up dead,” the woman cried.

Rachael would have celebrated her 17th birthday on August 23.

Grieving father Toba Ramkisson told Newsday his daughter’s CSEC results did not come as a shock to him.

“Rachael was a brilliant girl and I only expected excellence from her. She always placed first in test from since primary school and into secondary school. I wish she was here to see the results of her work,” he said.

The father of two said he remains confident there would be justice for his daughter’s murder.

On the morning of her death, Rachael missed the school bus and contacted a relative who also attends North Eastern to ask the bus driver if he could wait for her as she had studied late into the night and got up late.

The driver reportedly refused to wait and the teen had to seek public transportation. The girl’s relative claimed she only travelled with drivers she knew prompting police to believe that the person who murdered Rachael may have known her. Senior police officers said the case remains open as they continue to pursue all leads.

Sgt Maraj of the Homicide Investigations Bureau Region II is leading investigations.