Prayers, prayers for Shindlar

SOCIAL media users are offering prayers for missing 16-year-old Shindlar Cuffy, owing to the contents of a letter that her worried mother found on Christmas Eve while tidying the girl’s bedroom.

On Friday Newsday published the handwritten letter addressed to the family in which the girl said leaving was the only option since “staying here is killing your spirit faster.”

“I love you all dearly,” she went on. “The Lord has sent me on a mission and I must obey. I cannot disobey him.”

Like her mother Shondel Shallow, social media users speculate the girl may have been lured by a cult and coerced into writing the letter.

Cuffy lives at Rosehill Street, Claxton Bay, and is a student of the Marabella North Secondary School.

Commenting on the article, a Facebook user said: “I cancelled every plan of the enemy over that girl’s life. Please keep her safe in your arms Jesus Christ. I declare victory over this family. Thank you in advance for your answer and miracle in Jesus mighty name.”

Another wrote: “I destroy the works of the enemy now in this child’s life. Jesus came to set the captive free. Little girl, I set you free now by the authority of the name of Jesus Christ.”

Hundreds of people took to social media to offer prayers for her safe return.

They also denounced whoever is responsible for Cuffy’s mysterious disappearance. Cuffy was last seen on November 26, when she and her mother walked to the Southern Main Road, Claxton Bay, where she left in an AD wagon to go to school. She did not show up for classes that day.

Relatives told Newsday they are hoping she returns home for the family to celebrate New Year’s Day together. “We have no plans. We hope she comes so that we can celebrate. The family is just waiting to see her alive.”

The mother said Cuffy was wearing a strange cross around her neck weeks before she disappeared, but the family paid no mind until Shallow found the letter on Monday.

The Anti-Kidnapping Unit is leading investigations.