Immigration Dep’t mourns death of colleague

The Chief Immigration Officer, Annette Mark, said the staff at the department have been shocked and saddened by the sudden death of their colleague, Nikisha Lewis.
Lewis died on Monday after she travelled to Florida over the weekend, unaccompanied, for elective surgery. The cause of her death has not yet been determined.
Mark said the deceased was an immigration officer for 10 years and was recently reposted from the headquarters in St John’s to the V C Bird International Airport.
Staff members in both departments have been deeply affected, according to Mark who met with them yesterday.
“It has been a very hard day for all of us. We haven’t called in a counsellor. We are trying to find strength in
each other because it is like losing family. It has been hard on the staff. She will definitely be missed. She was a lovely person and it is really sad, very sad for all of us,” Mark, who sounded very emotional, told OBSERVER media yesterday.
“Officers pressed on and I have been talking with officers, I actually went to the airport to meet with the (others) but couldn’t meet because I spent so much time with the family. But the staff downtown where she worked before, fellow officers, we met and spoke and we are finding strength in each other.”
The chief immigration officer said she met with the relatives to express condolences on behalf of the Immigration Department.
Family members have declined comment.
The 32-year-old deceased, who was a past student of Pares Secondary School, leaves to mourn her two young daughters, her husband Rasheed Lewis and a host of relatives and friends to include a twin sister.