Days after finding out that her son, Shakeel John had died and his body burnt, his mother Sharon Jones claimed that she last saw her son on December 5th last year, not November, stating that he left to meet friends and never returned.
Police stated that John was reportedly electrocuted while attempting to scale a fence of a farmer in La Grange, West Bank Demerara (WBD) back in November 2023. Human bones suspected to be that of John were discovered at the suspect’s farm one day after his friend reported that matter to the police.
The farmer has since confessed to burning the body of the 22-year-old man who was electrocuted while attempting to steal fruits.
However, the grieving mother stated that on December 5, 2023, she and her now-dead son were in Bell West, West Bank Demerara (WBD) where they are constructing a house.
“He was there with me doing some work. At about 6:00h we left and came home and his friends came and called him out of the house and that was the last time I saw him. I couldn’t call him because he didn’t have a phone. I woke up the next morning, peeped in his room, and didn’t see him, so I called his friend that he left with his mother and she told me that her son didn’t come home too”, she said.
The woman said she left for work and when she returned home on the night of December 6, she was told by her older son that one of John’s friends said that he had gone with another friend and a female to Linden.
“My older son told me that someone told him that Shakeel, Timothy [his accomplice], and an Indian girl had gone to Linden to go to the bush since they would usually travel to the bush for work. So, I figured they had gone to the bush for the new year”, she said.
The woman said she never reported her son’s disappearance, as he often ventured into the interior for extended periods, but this time, he didn’t call.
“I know whenever he goes to the bush my son would always call me and let me know and he wouldn’t spend more than three weeks. I continued to call his friend Timothy’s [ the friend he left with] mother and she kept telling me the same thing that she not hearing from Timothy… I feel that she already knew what was going on but she was hiding it from me”, the dead man’s mother said.
One month later, the woman said someone told her that they heard rumors on the street that her son was dead but she did not believe it because she felt that her son was working in the interior.
“On the 14th of last month (January) one of his friends who were with him showed up and my older son asked him where is Shakeel and the boy said he didn’t know…my son asked him twice and both times he said he doesn’t know and he said that they ‘buss up’ since that day. Another day we saw the same boy and asked him again about Shakeel and if they hadn’t left to go in the bush and the boy said no and then is when we realized the boy’s story was mixed up, so we didn’t believe what he was saying. One time he was saying his uncle took them to the bush then he said they went to Linden”, the woman explained.
Jones said on Sunday while standing on the road waiting for transportation to go to work, a resident of the community reportedly pulled up alongside her in a car and told her that he heard rumors on the road that Shakeel and his friend were electrocuted.
“I said to him no that can’t be true because I know they went to Linden. And it was the same talk all over the village. However, when I didn’t hear from my son, I prayed every day that God would bring home Shakeel safe wherever he was or show me some vision’’, she said.
“The same boy came back to me and played a voice note with someone saying that my son got shocked and he died. I then went inside and started studying everything but mostly why my son ain’t calling me because he doesn’t stay away so long and doesn’t call. The same day the boy that told me about the voice note came back and told me that the police had caught Keron [John’s friend] and he confessed and it was then I really believed… and I started hollering”.
When asked why her son was on the farm, the woman said: “I can’t say why, but it doesn’t have a fence; it’s a walkway for anyone, maybe he was just walking or something. I don’t know and can’t say.
“I feel really messed up. It was my last son and he gone with a piece of my heart. I’m really feeling it and every day I’m crying. Some nights I can’t sleep. What I couldn’t get my other sons to do I could have gotten him to do and that’s why I am feeling it and I miss my son”, the tearful mother told Inews.
“I don’t want to say anything to him I just want justice, is not a dog or a pig he killed it is a human being. My son might have even been alive before he burnt him”.
Meanwhile, one of John’s close friends Warren Jackson, said that he believed that the farmer attempted to kill his friend. He said that it is normal for persons in the community to pass by the farm and pick fruits because it is an open area. He said that the farmer knew John and knew that he was one of many to pick fruits from the farm.
“This is premeditated murder. My friend wasn’t a big thief as everyone is making it sound. He picked fruits from farms like all of us in the community… this man is trying to justify his actions by saying this man does molest him. If he was molesting you, why didn’t you go to the station? Why did you move his body off of the scene? Why did you bury him and burn him? This means you didn’t want anybody to know what was going on and we don’t know how many more missing persons you might have killed”, he said.
“All the time we were asking for our friend and we thought he was in the bush, not knowing this man was dead all the time. That man needs to go to jail and he cannot get off from this because this is murder and he did it intentionally”.
