Marabella parents fear Xmas without daughter, 16: Where’s Princess?

Marabella schoolgirl Princess Phillips went missing on August 7.

Her parents, Annagatha Barclay and Anderson Phillips, said with Christmas Day only a few weeks away, it seems they will be spending the holidays without their daughter for the first time.

Phillips, 16, disappeared two days after telling her parents she had been followed by a group of men in a car while walking home from school.

She was in form five at the Marabella North Secondary School.

Reports said, on August 7 Phillips left home at Dolly Street, Marabella to visit a classmate nearby. She never made it to the friend’s house, and calls to her cellphone have since gone to voicemail.

Barclay said the last time she saw her daughter was when she left home that evening.

“I kissed her goodbye and told her to be safe. I did not know that would have been the last time I would have hugged and kissed my little girl.

"I pray every day she walks through that door or I get a call from the police (to say the have found) her.”

The tearful mother said, “This year I did nothing to prepare for Christmas. I have been just going through albums of her photographs and asking God for a miracle to send her home to us.”

Barclay said her daughter loved cleaning, cooking, and decorating the house for Christmas.

“From the age of 12 years, she would say, ‘Mummy, you just sit and relax. I will do most of the work.' And she will be here sweeping, cleaning, and singing Christmas songs.

"I miss my baby so much.”

She believes Princess was kidnapped.

“My daughter will never run away. She is not that type of girl. As a mother, you just know when something is wrong."

Barclay said, since the disappearance of her daughter she has stopped watching news on television or even reading the papers.

“Every time I hear about a missing girl I burst out in tears and cry for long periods.”

She said she learned of Ashanti Riley's case when she went to a clinic in San Fernando a few days after they found the 18-year-old girl’s body.

“People were talking near to me and it was only then I realised that there was a girl missing and she had been found dead. I felt like my head was spinning.

“I started to think about my daughter and question if she may have been killed like Ashanti. I don’t like to hear any other cases about missing girls. My heart breaks every time.”

Barclay said people must also be careful about how they label every missing-person case.

"Yes there are cases where girls run away, but I know it is not the case with my daughter. As a society, we should not be so quick to label each missing case as ‘She run away by her man.’

“I believe many of these girls were taken from us. Some are dead and we can’t even find their bodies.”

The Anti-Kidnapping Unit has questioned several people but, to date, there have been no leads on Phillips' disappearance.