In a man­ner re­flec­tive of her short but vi­va­cious and colour­ful lifestyle, friends, rel­a­tives and school­mates of nine-year-old J’Lay­na Arm­strong yes­ter­day paid their fi­nal re­spects to her, true to her own unique life.

Dur­ing her fu­ner­al ser­vice at the St Patrick’s RC Church, Port-of-Spain, throngs of mourn­ers, in­clud­ing school­mates from the near­by St Patrick’s New­town Girls’ RC School, filled the aisles of the church to pay their fi­nal re­spects.

Dur­ing his homi­ly, Dea­con Nigel Thomas lament­ed the trag­ic cir­cum­stances be­hind her death and urged com­mu­ni­ties to take ac­tion and con­front crim­i­nal­i­ty, even as the first signs of way­ward­ness ap­peared among chil­dren.