AN ENTIRE village yesterday came together to put their ’little angel’ to rest.

The funeral of five-year-old schoolgirl, Cherish Lezama, was held at the Toco Mission Roman Catholic Church, just four days after she fell to her death during a play date with her best friend.

Cherish died last Thursday after she tumbled off a precipice behind her family’s L’Anse Noire home and landed onto rocks some 100 feet below.

An autopsy performed on her battered body last Friday revealed that Cherish died from multiple blunt force injuries as a result of the fatal fall.

Cherish was a First Year pupil of the L’Anse Moravian Primary School. And yesterday, her schoolmates donned their uniforms and joined the hundreds of mourners, who all came out to pay homage to Cherish’s ’short but meaningful’ life.

Pink ribbons were worn by mourners to pay tribute to Cherish.

Sr Mary Martin, of the Toco Mission Roman Catholic Church, conducted the tear-filled service yesterday. During her homily, Martin urged the congregation to put Cherish’s death in the right context.

’It is not healthy to point fingers, although we may be angry let her death give us hope,’ Martin said.

’Let her death be a sign of hope, let her death live in our hearts, and let it bring her family, the village and the country as a whole together as one.’

And that it did yesterday. Villagers of all ages were present to say good-bye to Cherish. And it was an emotional send off.

The villagers packed the church to capacity and also lined the neighbouring street. There was not a dry eye at either location.

The villagers seemed oblivious to the numerous tourists who manoeuvred their way through the narrow streets on their way to the popular beaches in the community.

After the service, Cherish’s mother, Kimberly Thomas, almost fainted when her daughter’s small casket was taken out of the church on its way to the next-door cemetery.

Neither Thomas nor Cherish’s father, Hubert Lezama, was present for the burial.

Both returned to the sanctity of the church to be consoled by relatives while Cherish was being placed in her final resting place.

Lezama was the person who found Cherish after the fall. She was barely alive still when her father found her, police reports said. Cherish died on her way to the Toco Health Facility for medical attention.