A man claiming to be the uncle of 16-year-old Jahmarie Reid, who is believed to have died in a suspected shark attack in Falmouth, Trelawny, has contradicted police assertions relative to his nephew’s death.
Commander of the Trelawny Police Division, Superintendent Winston Milton, had stated that while it is being theorised that the mutilation of Jahmarie’s body was caused by a shark while the teen was spearfishing off the coast of Trelawny, the police are awaiting a post-mortem to accurately determine the cause of death.
“I must state categorically that there’s nothing evidential to support this (at this time that the teen was killed in a shark attack),” said Milton in a media interview earlier this week.
After consulting with marine interests and fisherfolk, Milton said there was no evidence to indicate a shark infestation in the waters along the northern coastline in Trelawny.
The senior cop further insisted that the beaches were safe, and there was no need for alarm.
However, Jahmarie’s uncle, who identified himself as a fisherman with 28 years of experience, disputed some of the police’s claim, including that there was nothing evidential pointing to the teen being killed by a shark.
“Mi see the shark already. He (Jahmarie) went missing on Monday. He go to sea on Monday 6am. Monday 6pm… we notice him nuh come from sea, so we go over the station and make a report say him missing,” the alleged uncle said in a TikTok video.
He said the authorities never turned up as expected, so on Tuesday they made a check. a
The uncle then recounted the harrowing experience of recovering Jahmarie’s body, stating, “When we go, we find him hand one side and we find him body one side without head… In the process of taking up his body, here comes the shark.”
The fisherman said that about four boats of his colleagues went to the area when the shark was spotted.
“We shoot after the shark twice and the shark swim away and come back, decide him (the shark) nah lef because him know say him make a kill,” Jahmarie’s uncle further alleged in the video.
“And a because we take the body out of the water make him nuh come back and finish eat off the youth,” the man suggested.
The uncle suspected that Jahmarie’s death was caused by catching a big fish, which attracted the shark’s attention.
“Nutten more than the youth shoot a big fish. When him shoot the big fish, the shark attack him and when the shark attack him, yuh know how it go.
“The shark attack him (Jahmarie) and eat the fish, worse if the youth get a cut. From the youth get a cut the shark ago come back and eat him. Unuh don’t want see the sight of the body. Unuh nuh want see it,” the man said.
Meanwhile, the uncle of the deceased also refuted Milton’s report that young Jahmarie was found two miles from the shore.
“So nuh listen to anybody who talk crap who don’t know nothing bout sea. Dem foot never wet; they have never been to a beach fi swim much less fi go out inna the deep.
“… And the yute barely dead a mile away from the land. It’s so close, next to the ship pier. Not even a mile away from the land the sharke eat the youth,” the upset fisherman lamented.
He emphasised the importance of experience and knowledge when dealing with sharks, explaining that he, too, was rushed by the shark in the past.
“A several of time the shark rush me but through (because of) my experience me know how fi overcome that,” the man said.
He theorised that Jahmarie died because of his lack of experience in dealing with a shark.
“The youth nah nuh experience of… (dealing with) a shark attack when him out at sea. Him nuh go through dem things deh, him young.
“So mi nuh want unuh come yah a tell mi no foolishness inna nuh comment ’cause mi ago diss unuh yuh hear,” said the peeved fisherman who instructed a relative to end the video recording.
After listening to his views, several TikTok users have opted to await the post-mortem report to state the cause of death of the William Knibb Memorial High School student.
Jahmarie was expected to matriculate into grade 11 when school reopened on September 2.
