By Orville Williams
‘Jovial’ and ‘loving’ is how Ineta Jeffrey – the mother of 25-year-old Jahfari Isaac – is remembering her son who succumbed to gunshot wounds early Tuesday at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre.
Isaac had been receiving emergency medical treatment in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for just over a week, after being shot multiple times by an unidentified assailant at a bar in Willikies on the night of June 4.
According to reports, the father-of-one was hit in the head, thigh, side and scrotum, and remained in critical condition, breathing with the support of a ventilator, up to the time of his death.
Jeffrey opened up about the emotional toll his time in the ICU had taken on her. “It wasn’t easy…going in the mornings then going again in the afternoons took a lot, but you know I had to go because he was, and still is, my child. But it wasn’t easy at all,” she told Observer.
Unverified video footage that circulated online after the shooting appeared to show a light-coloured vehicle driving slowly past a group of people sitting at a table outdoors, and shortly after, what appeared to be a male assailant shot into the group, leaving an apparent victim slumped to the ground.
Isaac, who was last known to have worked at the Mill Reef Club in Freetown, was rushed to the hospital shortly after the shocking Sunday evening incident.
Dexter Scotland, a fellow Willikies villager who was being sought by police in connection with the shooting, surrendered himself to police on Monday, and is currently assisting lawmen with their investigation.
Up to press time, no one had been charged for Isaac’s death.
Isaac’s mother, meanwhile, says the family is struggling to come to grips with the unexpected incident, and now the loss of their loved one.
“My son was a jovial person, he liked going out. He has a three-year-old daughter and a wife…the daughter is a young child, but her mother is not taking [the death] well.
“He [also] has brothers, one sister, and we’re just grieving for him [although] we know he’s in a better place now. He will really be missed by his family and his friends,” she said.
Isaac’s death is the second homicide recorded in Antigua and Barbuda for the year, after the May 22 incident that claimed the life of 26-year-old Syrian businessman Roudi Shmali.
The 16-year-old boy who is accused of Shmali’s murder was remanded to His Majesty’s Prison after appearing before court on May 25. He cannot be named for legal reasons.