Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

Pia Phillips, Immaculate Conception High School head girl, reads the first lesson at an event in this Gleaner file photo.

A pall of gloom is hovering over the Immaculate Conception High School community after the tragic death of its head girl yesterday.

Pia Phillips died in hospital Sunday morning after she had been accidentally shot by her father at their Havendale, St Andrew, home the night before.

Phillips, who celebrated her 18th birthday Saturday, was returning home from choir practice with her mother when the tragedy began to unfold at her gate.

God called her

"She was going to be a pioneer in this country," Phillips' former teacher at Quest Prep School, Christopher Miller, told The Gleaner yesterday.

He said he was trying to find comfort in his belief that "it was God who called her home".

Miller was one of several well-wishers who went to bed Saturday hoping she would pull through, but woke up to the news that Phillips had succumbed to the gunshot wound.

Police reports are that Phillips and other family members were about to enter the house when two gunmen alighted from a car and demanded that they come to them.

The victims reportedly screamed and ran towards the house. Phillips' father, a licensed firearm holder, who was inside the house, pulled his gun and rushed to the defence of his family.

Police reports state that Phillips' father slipped and the gun went off. The bullet hit her in the abdomen.

Havendale is a middle-class community which in recent years has frequently suffered from a spate of robberies and break-ins.

Pia Phillips

Yesterday, the bloodstained entrance to the house inflamed the heartache.

Scores of relatives, well-wishers and friends huddled with the family as they tried to come to grips with Phillips' untimely death.

Phillips' father, whose name has not been disclosed, ventured outside twice during The Gleaner's visit but, like other family members, avoided speaking with the media.

It was clear, though, that the event was still playing on his mind. On one occasion, he was seen retracing the event to a visitor.

Dr Jeffrey Walcott, psychiatrist at the University Hospital of the West Indies, has recommended that the family, especially Phillips' father, get urgent professional counselling.

According to Walcott, the father may suffer under the weight of guilt.

Stress disorder

"Intense guilt can cause post-traumatic stress disorder, which is one of the most debilitating mental disorders," Walcott said.

The psychiatrist has urged that a social support network also stand by the family.

"It is this sense of togetherness that will help to lessen the burden," he said.

Members of the Immaculate family spent yesterday trying to comfort each other.

A classmate of Phillips' told The Gleaner yesterday that school will never be the same without their head girl.

"She was outgoing, creative and always making people laugh. She was also very responsible," the student said.

Phillips participated in quiz, track and field, netball and drama at Quest Prep School and pursued those interests in high school.

Alarming attacks

While expressing sympathies to the grieving family, Youth Minister Olivia Grange said the increase in sexual attacks and abductions on girls and young women was alarming.

"As a consequence of this brazen attack, the teenager lost her life. This latest incident saddens us all greatly and my condolences and prayers go out to her father who attempted to protect her and the rest of her family," Grange said last night.

Basil Waite, opposition spokes-man on education, who visited the family yesterday, said, "Jamaica has lost a gem.

"I am heartbroken for the family and for the school community. Words will never be able to express, and I will never be able to imagine what the parents must be going through, particularly the father," Waite said.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com

Some of the more than 100 past and present students and teachers of Immaculate Conception High School walk along Constant Spring Road in celebration of the school's 150th anniversary on Saturday morning. The school community was shocked yesterday to hear that head girl Pia Phillips succumbed to a bullet wound on Sunday. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer