Local News

Antigua trip turns tragic for Jamaican woman

28 September 2024
This content originally appeared on Antigua News Room.
Promote your business with NAN

A 39 year-old Jamaican woman, Tatchine Weir, who travelled to Antigua in June in search of a better life, died unexpectedly on Tuesday morning, two days after she was scheduled to return home. CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATS APP GROUP

The mother of three was known for her love and dedication to her family. Her daughter, Tamara Hawes, said she went to Antigua to stay with her boyfriend.

He’s Jamaican but him over there a work. He invited her to stay with him but she keep on a tell me say she want come home,” Hawes recalled. She said she encouraged her to stay. 

“[I told her] stay and see if you can make a way for a better life.” However, she said Weir struggled to find work, eventually giving up her job as a cleaner. After visiting a hairdresser, she said, her mother started experiencing severe headaches.

“From she do the hair and pull it out, her head don’t stop hurt her. So mi tell her to tell the man say you want come home,” Hawes said. For three weeks, she said Weir endured debilitating headaches which reinforced her decision to come home. Weir called Hawes to inform her that a ticket had been booked for her return to Jamaica. But she could not reach her last Friday, September 20, or most of the following day. She finally contacted her mother on Saturday evening.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATS APP GROUP

I suspected she was coming on Sunday [September 22], but she didn’t confirm because she said she wanted it to be a surprise,” Hawes explained. “I knew that she was coming because we spoke late in the night and she already looked dressed.” 

According to Hawes, her mother called her brother on Sunday morning and told him that she was coming and that he should pick her up at the airport. 

“But, by the time I went to the shop and come back, I saw a number of missed calls on my phone. I thought she had reached Jamaica and they were just calling to get to my uncle to pick her up. Only to hear that my mother was in the hospital,” she said. Hawes said that she spoke with a man on the phone who indicated her mother was not speaking coherently.

One a the time mi a wonder if a the headache lick her head,” she said. By Monday morning, she said, her mother had been sent home from the hospital, but her condition was alarming.

When she a talk to me, she a talk like baby. She know she has three children but a my name alone she coulda remember. She asked me if she’s not coming home and mi start cry,” Hawes said. The following day, during a video call, Hawes learned that her mother was gone.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATS APP GROUP

Mi say, mek mi see her and, when mi look and see her, tears run out a mi eye and mi say to him ‘Mi mother dead, she gone now.'” Since then, Hawes said, she has neither eaten nor slept. 

“Mi just sit down and mi want know how mi mother dead. Her death seem strange because her suitcase was packed and she was dressed,” she said.

As questions and speculations about Weir’s death linger, Hawes is urging the authorities to investigate thoroughly. 

“I don’t want to assume anything. I will just wait on the autopsy, which they say will take two weeks,” she stated. In addition to her grief, Hawes now faces the logistical and financial challenges of bringing her mother’s body to Jamaica. 

“She wanted to come home; otherwise she will not rest.”

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATS APP GROUP

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATS APP GROUP

Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Antigua! We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages.Contact us at [email protected]