The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are still awaiting autopsy results to determine the cause of death of a mother and her two daughters who died after their car plunged into water off the Montagu ramp three weeks ago.

Chief Superintendent of Police and Central Detective Unit head Paul Rolle told The Tribune yesterday that police were still awaiting the results which would reveal how 36-year-old Shemicka McKinney and her two daughters, three-year-old Alisa McKinney and six-year-old Gabrielle McKinney, had died.

It has been speculated that Ms McKinney intentionally drove her car into the water with her daughters inside, but Assistant Commissioner of Police Stephen Dean said police are awaiting the results of the autopsy before the deaths are classified.

Mr Rolle had previously said the results were to be released on March 25. When contacted yesterday, however, he said police had not yet received the results, and as such could not formally classify the incident.

“I haven’t received that report as yet,” Mr Rolle said. “The investigation is still open.”

The bodies of the three victims were pulled from the sea shortly after eyewitnesses said they saw a car – a dark blue Toyota Avalon – speeding off the ramp and into the water.

One eyewitness said the woman had driven to the edge of the ramp, stopped and turned the car around. She later returned and the car went into the water.

Last month ACP Dean confirmed that Ms McKinney, the deceased, visited a police station days before her death to ask for help and was referred to Social Services.

ACP Dean told The Tribune he was not certain what Ms McKinney spoke to the officers about. However, he said, it was his understanding that she did not appear “distressed.”

A relative told The Tribune last month that she put the mother out of her home after months of building tension. According to sources, Shemicka and her children reportedly stayed in a motel until it is believed she ran out of money.

Family members described Shemicka as a depressed college graduate who was argumentative and out of work.

Shemicka’s grandmother, Alice Pinder McKinney, had told The Tribune after the incident that she was “angry, sad, and confused” by the deaths of the children.

Ms McKinney said her granddaughter was an intelligent, beautiful girl who “had a lot of problems” and had “lost her way” after graduating from college in the United States. She said “Mika”, as she was affectionately called, loved her children “with all her heart.”

Last month, a pink rose bush was planted at Thelma Gibson Primary School in honour of Shemicka’s oldest daughter Gabrielle.

Donna Brown, principal of Thelma Gibson Primary, said a special memorial for Gabrielle was the least she could do for the “exceptionally bright” six-year-old who always had a smile on her face and looked after others.