Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says he is using diplomacy to try to secure early release from prison in Martinique for the father of the two brothers who died in the Rock Gutter tragedy on Jan. 12.
Jamlie Edwards and his brother, Jamall, were among five students who died when a bus plunged into the sea at Rock Gutter in north-eastern St. Vincent, killing three other students.
Two students are missing at sea and presumed dead, and several of the other 14 persons who were on board the bus were taken to hospital.
Gonsalves said on Tuesday that mother of the Edwards brothers, Jemma Edwards, has had a special loss.
“Her two children, Jamlie and Jamall, two boys, they are dead.
“Her common-law husband is in Martinique. He had entered Martinique illegally, and the French in Martinique don’t appear to take that matter as easily as we do. So he was sentenced to 15 months in prison in October,” Gonsalves said on Tuesday.
“She has to hold herself, her daughter, her other family members together without the support of Desron, her common-law husband,” he said at a media event were a CD to raise funds for the victims of the tragedy and their families was launched.
Related: PM Office choir launches CD in aid of relatives of Rock Gutter victims
“I just want to say to the country I am using my best efforts to see if I can get an early release for Desron,” Gonsalves said.
He said he has written to the president of the Regional Council of Martinique, Serge Letchimy asking for an early release of the Vincentian prisoner.
“So, I am keeping my fingers crossed. I know it is a difficult hurdle we have to scale in that regard, but we have to leave no stone unturned,” he said.
Speaking to I-Witness News on Jan. 13, cousin of the Edwards brothers, Okeano Bowens, said he knows it is tough for their father to be in prison when his sons have died tragically.
“Right now, I know their father is in real pain, because right now he behind the bars in Martinique. So I know it’s real pain they feeling,” Bowens told I-Witness News.
I don’t want to sound bnegative at every comment I mak here but gosh man. The dead brothers father is in jail in Martinique for entering illegally. I wonder what was Desron doing in Martiique illegally? Maybe he went to look for work. I wonder what job he was doing in Fancy prior to going to Martinique to seek employment? The point is comrade I am sure if things were better in Fancy, a community you have neglected for years the kids father would be home. The poor representation dished out by your government has resulted in mass migration of young people from SVG to nearby countries seeking greener pastures. Don’t pretend there is no connection. When and if you get the father release will you be giving him a good job to take care of his family? Or he will have to go somewhere else illegally looking for work?
@ uralex, go and relax your brain for just a little while nah you aint tired with all the negative comments? You already say the PM milking this event for all the politics he can muster well good for him, we like that. But seriously speaking the PM showing great compassion all-round and we applaud him for that, unlike you who aint got one ounce of compassion! It takes a real man to reach out and help the family who asked for help in getting the boys father back home to bury his two sons, and the PM showing true colors as a father and diplomat. Give the man his due when he deserve it nah, and he deserve it. Good Luck PM in getting the Father back home to bury his sons ah feel yo!
…meanwhile, the NDP dey with their tail between their legs, trying to be “respectful” to the families and biding their time to be “political”..yeah right.
Gonsalves is milking the sh!# out of this tragedy like nothing…he gone and get a school bus, he cutting CD, he sharing out goods, he asking foreign Governments to release criminals…he giving dem free funeral, he giving them free education, a national day of mourning, the national flag flying half mast…what next, lifetime of free light and water?
Somebody please tell me WTF is going here…really? I have a heart, yes this was a most unfortunate accident…but really people…are we not losing our fu@#ing minds here…are we going to behave in this manner, the next time we have a similar incident in the future?
I guess we need to have more tragedies in Vincyland……WHAT A GOVERNMENT. DIE FIRST, KINDNESS SECOND.
I wish the PM would also show compassion throughout the entire island and on every issue. The Bigger Biggs and Lynch issues dont show consistency and that’s the problem with his action. Only when it suites his purpose he starts this behaviour. Some folks see through his behaviour and speak about it, while others ignore it.