Parents Mourn Son's Tragic Death, Express Shock and Grief

The parents of slain Jamel “Maca” Harewood are still experiencing shock, anger and disbelief over the death of their firstborn son.

He was one of the two men – the other being Omar “Redman” Taitt – shot and killed by a St Philip farmer on Tuesday morning after allegedly stealing some of the farmers’ yams from a plot of leased land on Three Houses Plantation.

Yesterday, Joan Harewood-Mapp and her husband, who only gave his name as “Mr Mapp”, said their 37-year-old son had big dreams and was someone who loved his family.

“On Monday was the first time we saw him in three months. He has a house around the corner but he spends his time in Haynesville (St James) with his girlfriend and their two year-old son, who was the first Republic Day baby,” said Joan, who lives in Blades Hill No. 2, St Philip.

The distraught mother said they made sure to give their son whatever he needed so they could not understand how he could have died the way he was said to have died. Mr Mapp said the loss haunted his wife.

“She get up after 2 a.m. this morning hollering out ‘they kill my child’. I can’t say youth don’t do [nonsense] but my son was no wild man. Everybody painting he with a bad brush and me by extension but it is not true,” he said.

Harewood-Mapp said Jamel worshipped the dirt she walked on and doted on her constantly, especially after she became ill. She said he was a family man and football lover who was studying law at the O’Level Institute.

“No one is perfect but you cannot just look at somebody son and shoot them like a hare rabbit – but he will get buried.

I will bury my son and leave the rest to God. He was good at football and athletics and was saying he wanted to become a lawyer. I can’t feel good to lose a child,” she said, adding Harewood had two brothers.

Mr Mapp said he made sure to instil in his son a sense of wrong and right and was struggling to believe he was guilty of any wrongdoing.

“He was the first of my seed. I would tell he ‘don’t go out there and do [nonsense], your mother sick and if anything happen to you, she would take it hard’. I told him that [almost] every day,” he said.

The grieving couple, who declined to be photographed, said the last time they saw their son, he was in the company of Taitt. He said Taitt was also fond of Harewood-Mapp and often visited the house. The night when the two men left, they were supposed to get a ride from another friend.

“The last time I see him, he was leaving with Redman and he had a haversack. They were supposed to meet someone to get a ride to St James. I don’t know what happened,” said Harewood-Mapp.

Mr Mapp said the next day rumours were flying but it became real after the police visited them. He said they were told the bodies had already been moved, which he found strange as the family had not identified them yet. He said he was going to the morgue to do so today.

When the DAILY NATION visited the family of Taitt, who lives nearby, there was no one home.