By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A MAN purporting to be the father of 12-year-old Adriel Moxey, who was murdered earlier this week, says he feels he failed his daughter and wishes he had done more to protect her, knowing her living conditions were difficult.

Roberto Rolle told The Tribune yesterday he last spoke to Adriel over the summer before losing his phone, which had her contact information.

He admitted he did not try to reconnect with her, believing he had already “lost” her and that the only way to have her back in his life was to bring her to live with him in Grand Bahama.

“I’ve been trying to get that little girl for like, eight years,” Mr Rolle said.

He revealed he never took a DNA test to confirm Adriel was his biological child but insisted she looked like him and said he willingly took on the responsibility of being her father.

“I used to babysit the girl since she was like eight days old up until she was five,” he said. “I used to change her pampers, change her bottle. I did everything. I done do so much for that little girl, even if she wasn’t my child, she was my child.”

Adriel, a seventh-grade student at Anatol Rodgers High School, was last seen leaving school on Monday afternoon. She was reported missing the following day.

A MARCO Alert was issued on Wednesday, hours before her partially clothed body was discovered in bushes near Faith Avenue South.

Mr Rolle revealed that he does not have a good relationship with Adriel’s mother, Sasha Moxey, and only learned of her disappearance through social media.

Ms Moxey, who has schizophrenia and three other children, said she was waiting for Adriel to return home but fell asleep due to medication she had taken.

She said she became aware of her daughter’s disappearance around 3am Tuesday but did not immediately walk to the nearest police station to report it.

“It’s 3 o’clock in the morning,” she told The Nassau Guardian. “You want us to leave from the back here in the draft and just start walking out to Carmichael? When you get to the police station, the police ain’t gonna drop you home, you know.”

Mr Rolle claimed his daughter endured traumatic experiences and hated being at home.

He expressed regret for not taking legal steps to secure custody and provide a better environment for her.

“I didn’t even know I could have taken a passport and the little girl’s birth certificate and get the girl to sign in my name,” he said.

“I don’t really know the procedures like that.”

“You know how hurt I is right now? I feel like I failed a little girl more than Sasha because I know Sasha has a disorder.”

Nonetheless, relatives dismissed the father’s criticisms and defended the mother’s parenting, insisting she did her best.

The girl’s cousin, Kitty Chipman, said the mother complained to officers in the Carmichael Road station about her daughter being abused by a man who was eventually out of the picture.

She also admitted that the child disliked being at home and often participated in after-school activities, saying: “Who wants to go home to a hot house with no current?”

Adriel’s death elicited strong reactions not only from her family but also from members of the community.

Her pastor, Cleveland Wells, described her as “small in stature but powerful.”

His wife shared that Adriel had been excited to attend the church’s recent pastoral anniversary but was hesitant because she felt she didn’t have the right clothes.

Church members took her shopping to help, and Adriel, filled with joy, told them: “You made my day.”

Pastor Wells recalled his last interaction with Adriel, which took place on Sunday.

She had asked him: “Pastor, what’s happening on Monday?”

He said he replied: “We don’t have any church on Monday.”

“She said, ‘But what am I going to do?’ I said, ‘Adriel, we don’t have any church on Monday.’ And I know if we had church on Monday, we would have called ahead before dropping her off and said, ‘She’s on her way.’”

Police reported that a 32-year-old man has been taken into custody in connection with the incident.

The suspect is said to be a person of interest and was arrested in the Cowpen Road area.