Tragedy struck in Ciceron, Castries, on Wednesday, when the body of seven-year-old Nehki Poleon was discovered in a river.
Nehki’s family had posted a missing person’s report on Facebook the day before.
The boy’s father, William Poleon, said he was devastated and confused over the tragedy.
William, who has been a single parent since Nehki was a preschooler, detailed his desperate search for his son since Monday.
He explained that being a bit older, Nehki had been walking home with friends after school and usually stayed at home or played in the yard until his father returned from work.
William said when he arrived home on Monday, he noticed Nehki was missing when he didn’t open the door when he called.
The father recalled searching the house and noticing that Nehki had changed clothes and left.
William recounted desperately canvassing the neighbourhood and even checking the pig pen where Nehki often played with his cousin, but found no sign of his son.
As a result, he reported the child’s disappearance to the police.
However, William said he learned that a missing child report could only be filed after 24 hours.
Nevertheless, he continued searching.
On Wednesday, William and the search party took a walk along the river near the pig pen Nehki frequently visited. That was where William discovered Nehki’s slippers. The river, known for its depth, heightened his fears.
In a heart-wrenching turn of events, William told St. Lucia Times his friend decided to dive into the river and emerged with Nehki’s body.
“After about 10 minutes, I see my friend come up and bring Nehki for me,” the heart-broken father stated.
William said he collapsed to his knees upon the discovery.
“I never expect Nehki to come out from that water, somewhere else but not in that water,” he said.
The single father suspects that Nehki might have fallen into the river while trying to retrieve his phone, leading to the child’s tragic demise.
“Nehki was my everything” the father said, struggling to come to terms with the loss.
He lamented that despite having two other children, Nehki was the only one who lived with him, and their bond was incredibly special.
An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon to determine the exact cause of Nehki’s death.
My Lord – I have no words only prayers…
That’s just heart breaking from all angles. I wish the father everything good in this situation 🙏 May his son rest in perfect peace … the little boy must have been looking forward to seeing Julien Alfred… poor-jab … Tomorrow is really not guaranteed… fly high little angel 🧚♂️ 🧚♂️ 🧚♂️
How my heart is faint within me,down to the grave in sorrow and carried before time, the blame is ever before me..
O LORD, remember the familly (dad)
the hardship and suffering at such a moment of unbearable griefs, bring spritually healing to the soul 💜
Lesson – do not leave any child unattended. Let them stay by a relative/friend/neighbour until you come back home. smh
24 hours for an adult, I can understand, but for a child of 7? That rule definitely needs to be reviewed.
So a 7 year old child needs to be missing for 24hrs before police take action? How long for an adult? 6 months? This is some BS! St Lucia need to wake up!
Someone came to make a report of a seven year old missing you asking the person to wait 24 hrs what a load of bull, My condolences to the family Rip little one
Papie I don’t mean to kick you because you already down but are we not learning anything from these tragedies couple weeks ago a three year old perish in a house fire now this little one because they were left unsupervised by adults when will we learn,
Sad news all the time. shootings drownings. drivebhy hit and run road fatalities, drownings ,’suicides and house fires are just a few will make the headlines for the rest of 2024. THIS ISLAND IS CURSED
@ Anonymous September 11, 2024 At 7:03 pm
Very well said. Sympathetic but at the same time addressing what needs to be reinforced.
The little ones need our constant supervision, care and love.
Correction :
If St Lucia 🇱🇨 is cursed everyone living in it is cursed, as my me and my household we are bless,
I proclame Salvation and Spritually healing over🇱🇨 St Lucia,
Instead of cursing,I prounance blessings ❗
RIP little one and condolences to his family. RSLPF in what civilised nation is there a 24hr period to begin searching for a seven year old. When people seek to copy what the “big countries” do how about learning lessons about the treatment of a report for missing children. It is immediately looked at, hence UK: “Immediately report your child as missing to your local law enforcement agency. Ask investigators to enter your child into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing Persons File. There is no waiting period for entry into NCIC for children under age 18.”
USA – It is commonly thought that you must wait 24 hours before reporting somebody missing, but this is not true. You can make a report to the police as soon as you have done as much as possible to locate your child and that you consider them to be missing.”
It is heart breaking for that young boys family to ask for help and be given that nonsense. The police need to do better.