The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

A TRIP to Miami became a nightmare for Christina Colebrooke after she was assaulted and, after being treated and leaving hospital, was subsequently severely injured in a hit-and-run accident a few days later.

Worried family members in The Bahamas filed a missing person report for Ms Colebrooke and her six-year-old son soon after losing contact with them on March 19 — three days after the pair travelled to Miami.

The family made social media appeals for help finding the pair in posts that were shared hundreds of times.

Gilthoneil Mackey, Ms Colebrooke’s stepmother, told The Tribune the pair have been found alive but have endured considerable emotional and physical trauma.

She said relatives launched a full-scale investigation when Ms Colebooke and her son failed to return to New Providence on March 20.

 “Long story short, something happened on the 23rd, and she took herself and her son to the hospital and, for whatever reason, she left the hospital,” she said yesterday. “The hospital was not able to reach her and assumed they were homeless, so Child Protection Services took the child.

 “On the 25th, she was hit by a car. It was a hit-and-run. Thankfully, they were able to place her in the same hospital that she had originally gone in. I don’t want anybody to think she abandoned the child. She didn’t. There were other circumstances that I cannot disclose at the moment.”

 “Fortunately, she is alive. But her pelvis was fractured in two places, her femur bone was badly broken, she had a broken rib and two fractured ribs, one of which fractured her lung, resulting in her lungs collapsing, so she’s had surgery to fix the collapsed lung and she’s had surgery on her right leg. She has a very badly damaged left leg. She is severely bruised. After her lungs collapsed, she contracted pneumonia, which we understand they are still treating her for now.”

 Ms Mackey said her stepdaughter has no recollection of what happened.

 “She has no clue where she’s been,” she said. “We are getting tidbits of circumstances I would not wish on anybody for their children so we are starting to piece together some of the dramatic things that happened to her that resulted in all of this.”

 She said the family met US officials to remove the child from CPS custody.

 “They are preparing to expedite a trial for us (to today) to assist us in getting the child back,” she said. 

 She said the young boy is doing well and is being taken care of, though he is “somewhat traumatised” by his experience.

 “Everybody’s been very supportive and we’re just trying to get her through this,” she said. “The entire family flew (to Florida) and she’s surrounded by people that love her.”