They must pay for killing my children … Broken father cries for justice for murdered family

More than a year after his two children and their mother were horrifically murdered and their home set on fire in Mavis Bank in rural St Andrew, 43-year-old Artnel Williams remains a broken man.

Since the incident, the health and livelihood of the once avid farmer have taken a tumble, and a pinched spinal nerve, which he said manifested itself after the stressful ordeal, adds anguish to his already sleepless nights.

On July 18, 2018, Jamelia Leslie, 28, who is also the mother of another of Williams’ children, reportedly murdered Kasheif Jackson in a fit of jealousy with the aid of her brother, Javone Leslie, who reportedly held the screaming woman down. Reports are that they then lit the house on fire with Jackson’s children inside – two-year-old Aviere Williams and his seven-day-old sister, Aranza Williams.

The mother and children perished.

Last month, the brother and sister were sentenced to 88 years in prison for the stabbing and arson and for the suffocation of Aviere and Aranza.

The sentences are to be served at the same time, which means that the Leslies will spend 36 years behind bars.

This, however, has not gone down well with residents of Tower Hill or with Williams, whose elderly mother died the same day last month that the ruling was being handed down in the Supreme Court.

“Dem shoulda did get the whole 88 (years) because right now them give them 36 years for the mother that they killed, 21 years for each child, and 10 years for the house that they light. But to me is like them only going to serve the 36 years for the mother alone,” argued Williams with a somber expression.

“So it is like they don’t get any time for my pickney dem.”

Williams said the son he had with Jamelia is now living with her relatives.

Since the incident, he had tattooed the names of his dead children and their mother on his arm. He drank himself into a stupor on his daughter’s birthday last month and admits that he needs psychological help to effectively deal with his grief.

BETTER ME DID DEAD

His counsellor is, however, located miles away in St Andrew and without a job, Williams said he cannot afford the $2,000 for each visit, plus bus fare.

“I bawl every day because is better me did dead because I could have put a stop to it,” he bewailed, recalling months earlier when Jamelia tried to poison young Aviere by pouring pesticide into the young boy’s juice box.

“The police them beg me fi lock her up, and I begged for her. Now she come and kill the three of them. In August last year, me pickney dem bury and same August this year again me bury me mother,” he whispered in reflection.

“Every night me go to me bed me pray to God fi dead and can’t dead. Because of the pinched nerve, I can’t work like before to support my youth them, and if me can’t support them, nuh better me dead?” questioned the father, who is struggling to cover back-to-school expenses for four other children – ages 13, 10, five, and four.

Since the incident, Williams’ nearby farm has been reduced to bushes in some areas as he cannot lift more than a gallon of water. This is tragic as his community is drought-plagued and a steady water supply is almost non-existent.

He said that he barely supports himself by doing periodic delivery work.

“I don’t want people to think I’m looking a handout. That’s not what I want. All I want is a job so I can take care of my youths,” said the broken father, noting that he recently applied but failed to secure a job as a driver at a morgue.

“I just want to provide for my youths,” he stressed.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com