Mother of J’can killed in T’dad wants answers
Mom wants to go get her son’s body from Trinidad
BY DONNA HUSSEY-WHYTE Observer staff reporter [email protected]
Bridgette Johnson (left), mother of Tremaine Thomas, and her neighbour Sonia Smith at the Jamaica Observer yesterday. (PHOTO: NAPHTALI JUNIOR)
THE mother of Jamaican actor Tremaine Thomas, who was shot dead in a volatile community in Port of Spain, Trinidad, last Thursday night, is demanding the truth about his killing.
“I know my child, he was no gunman,” Bridgette Johnson told the Jamaica Observer yesterday. “He had a clean police record in Jamaica. And it is upon that premise that I am seeking justice. In my heart I know my child is not a criminal; he was not a gunman.”
Trinidad media reported that five men were in the Laventille area when occupants of a black vehicle fired gunshots on the group, hitting all of them.
One of the dead men, Dillon Skeete, was reported to be a gang leader.
“The newspaper in Trinidad is saying that it was gunmen who murdered my child, but yet eyewitness is saying that it is police; so I don’t know,” Johnson told the Observer. “I am not going to sit here and speculate, but I am in search of justice because I don’t know, and I have to make that clear.”
Twenty-five-year-old Thomas was in Trinidad to shoot a movie.
His mother said that up to yesterday she had not been contacted by the authorities in Trinidad and Tobago and had to be relying on the media to know what was happening.
“But even if they don’t contact me directly, they can contact the Jamaican Government so I can know what is happening. I want to know how I can get my child’s body. I need answers as to what happened,” the mother pleaded.
Johnson said her son — who lived in Greater Portmore, St Catherine with her, his three siblings, his two-year-old son, and his son’s mother, left for the Caribbean country on September 1 — was the only Jamaican among a group of actors. The movie, which was slated to be completed in 10 days, ran over the time and he was waiting to return home when he was killed.
“There is a lot of speculation in the media in Trinidad,” she said. “I understand my child was killed execution style. I heard that they asked him to kneel down, put his hands behind him, and shot him. I am here because he is not that type of a child. He is worth getting justice for. And I want every Jamaican to understand the type of character of this child.”
She said her son would care for her when she was sick, and he hardly went out.
“Him don’t ’fraid to tell you that is one foot him mother have and he is my other foot,” she said, explaining that she lost her right leg in an accident years ago.
“Two years ago I was sick in the hospital for three months and he never missed one day. My dinner come there every day; my breakfast come every day. Him bathe me down, him do everything, things that a girl child supposed to do. But him understand the needs of his mother and make sure I live an able life. He was not a child who was out there doing bad and you say this would be his destiny. Nobody would think this would happen to him,” said Johnson, who has three other children.
Her neighbour for more than 20 years, Sonia Smith, described Thomas as someone who had manners.
“He was a very nice guy, very mannersable, and everything good that you can think of,” Smith said. “He is not passing and don’t tell you ‘howdy do’. He doesn’t give any trouble at all. When I heard Friday morning that he was killed I was supposed to go to work, and up until now I don’t reach work yet. It shake me up, man.”
Thomas’s cousin, Miguel Clarke, described him as a principled youth.
“Certain things you cannot do around Tremaine,” he said. “He does not put up with foolishness. You will be doing something wrong and him quick to slap you for that. That was just him.”
Johnson, who heads an organisation called Portmore Self-Help Disabilities Organisation for the past 10 years, said she wants to leave for Trinidad today to attend a press conference set for tomorrow.
“I am trying to look to my country here for assistance and for them to best advise me in the direction in which I can go. I don’t know what to do. But I am seeking justice,” she said.
“I have been to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and they are willing to offer courtesy assistance while I am in Trinidad, to have the mission there assist me so that whatever should be done there will be done. How I am going to get there, I don’t know, but as a mother I know I have to reach,” she said.
“So, whosoever out there that is willing to help me can call me at 4371837,” Johnson appealed.
It sad bad, hope she gets the justice she searching for. Bwoii i lose a chile nuh easy and fi lose him in such a manner mek it worst.RIP young man.
Mother guh look justice fi yuh pickney, damn wicked dem, mi suh mi hate d Trinidadian Government and Police wid a vengeance yuh see man, dem dont like Jamaican & me wusserah (but know seh nuh word nuh guh suh, but mi not even business bout dat right yah now, d word mi a look fi describe dem not even inna d dictionary!!!) nuh like dem. Chances be, dem ask d youth weh him come from and him seh Jamaica and dem just put 1 inna d young man head. Dem dont like Jamaica cauz dem know seh every weh wi guh wi excel and dem cant stop dat!!! Mi nuh know y Jamaicans still a guh over deh fah!!!! The slums of Trinidad worst than d most volatile area of Jamaica, and dem a gwaan like dem batter than Jamaicans. To hell with dem heartless f@#$%^& just kill off d woman pickney just like that fi nothing at all!!!! SMH. So sorry for your loss Miss!
* better, sorry for d other typo errors as well
Met mi naa lie nick names r just nick names but when I went on this guys page his Nick names r as follows: killi killi, juvenille, crime. An Jah knw looks r deceiving but him look like a real criminal. God plz forgive me if I’m wrong.
Sad. She’s gonna need all the help she can get to obtain justice.
What d hell d story has to do with trinidadians don’t like Jamaicans smfh I just hate to hear that shyt… Trini’s were executed along with d Jamaican ,or did u fail to read that? Stop pree hate we are all one it doesn’t matter where we come from . As far as the killing goes I’m sorry to say this lady may never get justice because the police are highly involved in a lot of these crimes…. My condolences goes out to d family I can’t imagine how the lady feeling,hope God gives her the strength to deal
Sad situation, especially since she hasn’t been contacted by the Trinidadian government. My condolence.
YES MS.Onedrop it come like u mad with trini people for whatever bad experience u have had with them,just to let u kno there is bad people all over the world whether jamaica or trini.U sound like a illiterate.
Let mi start off by saying that if I offended any Trinidadian bloggers with family members who are Diplomats or in d force, kindly accept my most sincere apologies. In 2010 I accompanied my sister to Trinidad & Tobago on a business trip and from what I witnessed they singled out the Jamaicans to body searches and were very unprofessional in their approach, and yes mi nuh like them Prime Minister from she chat bout other Caribbean nations think T&T is an ATM machine or something to that effect. Y d bloodclaat when Christopher ‘Johnny’ Daley did a talk bout him experience wid dem yuh never run in and seh bad ppl deh every weh? Yes there is good in every bad and there is bad in every good, but it nuh look like some a d Trinidadian ppl a customs know that because dem a target Jamaican like a everybody come from Jamaica a criminal. Mek mi address u realtalk (mi not even a capitalize yuh bloodclaat name, cauz yuh common nuh raas) bout illiterate yuh not even know when fi use is & are but yuh a come show up yuh dutty colours, Yuh think tru mi come pan yah a chat patois, mi is a dunce??? A better mi illiterate and know when fi use singular and plural nouns and verbs than have a masters and dont know A from bull foot!!!!! Gal yuh a correct ppl and u yuhself need correction!!!! Public education fail yuh gal guh weh, yuh not even deserve the grace of good communication from me!!! Yes there is a nicer way of saying the truth than how I expressed myself in my previous comment, but I was really angry and inclined to think that this was the case of mistaken identity or just plain wickedness!!! None of us know what really happened, so what I should have done, was get the facts on this incident before commenting, but I did not do that I did not look before I leaped, now I have a laughing jackass and a babbling baboon telling me, I sound illiterate. No I dont know anything about the young man, seperate and apart from what is reported in the news, but just by reading how he loved and cared for his motther, plus no criminal background, and the fact that he went for work purposes, I think his mother’s story is credible, coupled with her neighbours account. And this is just my opinion, mi nah force it dun nobody throat, and mi nuh want a gal or bwoy force fi dem ideologies and opinion pan mi neither. If mi seh mi nuh like Trinidad Police mi just nuh bloodclooth like dem yuh hear dat Realtalk, and nuh Mr. Pussy cant change my mind if mi nuh waan change it, just like how nuff ppl seh dem dont like JA Police, a suh Mario seh him nuh like Ja Police and dem kill d youth fi him freedom a speech, a nuh freedom again a FREE-DUMB???!!! yuh a address negative wid more negative???? Since u r so perfect and know it all, always say the right thing, never bad mouth anyone, y didnt u be tthe bigger person and said “ONEDROP, speaking the truth can be said in a more professional way!!!! Bout yuh name Realtalk yuh fake nuh bumboclaat!!! A goodly plastic yuh mek out a to BC. Metty nuh have nuh border patrol officer pan dis!!!!!! afta yuh nuh have nuh shares inna JMG!!!! When yuh ready fi chat ur f**kery dem bout ppl nobody a seh nothing to u????? mi seh 1 single thing bout “trinidad Government & Police” YUH COME FLY DUN LIKE HEAD MAN JOHNCROW!!!! Look how much raas time unuh (We, mi nah exclude miself cauz mi chat har to when mi ready how she love fly)chat Portia, we good good Prime Minister, and seh wi hate Jamaican Police cauz dem kill off innocent ppl???? So wah if a Jamaican seh dem hate Trinidadian Police, a crime??? Speak Johncrow speak!!!! cauz yuh cant tap mi from chat!!! mi seh anything mi waan fi seh bout Trinidad, Asia, Africa all di Middle East and mi nuh give a monkey f**k!!!! So lying through silence is better than speaking ur mind and telling d truth?? bout sound illiterate johncrow, just like how batty man know them one a nedda, a same such illiterate ppl know dem one a nedda when dem see and hear dem, cauz yuh nuh piece betta than mi!!! Gal yuh can tell me what to say and how to say it??? Who feels it knows, a nuh who shit a bush memba a who step inna it. You notice I said “Trinidadian Government and Police” I didn’t say all Trinidadians??? Mi have reason fi seh wah mi seh. Wah yuh know bout mi??? Yuh a come chat bout sound illiterate!!!! At least mi sound illiterate, but u look illiterate, act illiterate and u r illiterate!!!!! While you are at it telling me what to say and how to say it why d f**k you dont just go ahead and tell me which outfit to wear tomorrow, or what is my views on d Puss & Cheese war, cauz I dont know shit about that, and a right ova there a going next to comment!!! Which 1 of my f**king bills yuh paying this month??? Plz just jump off of a damn cliff and hang yuh self wid d long sinting yuh have under yuh name pussy tongue!!! Brite, (a same suh mi a spell it – suh run guh spread it seh mi dunce) Avoid bloodcloth mi when yuh see mi come pan JMG come waste my time and my employer time come comment, tek d bloodclooth left when yuh si mi pan d right!!!! Look how yuh mek dis good good Wednesday morning mi come deface d lady site,and waste mi time, now I will not meet my 2:00pm deadline fi hand in my report. Look ere nuh man, kmt!!!
one drop :nohope:
Sorry yah Met, I just made a comment abt d Trini Government officials & Police, my insults were not directed to the Trinidadian populace in general in no way or form, so it look like seh mi fling a big stone inna d hog pen and d big sow bawl out!!!! Nuh common assault fi ppl seh dem nuh like politician and police???? How it bun real talk suh mi nuh know, she/he/it tek mi on long time!!!! I was passionate/emotional about this topic, I felt the mother’s pain having had a run in wid d Trini customs personnel prior, I must admit my comment could have been rephrased out of respect for our diverse bloggers, and may have needed some editing before posting. However, a nuh everything wi seh sit well wid everybody, we are going to have difference in opinion, mi nah scrape a gal pot, so a gal or bwoy nuh affi like me or my comment, when can agree fi disagree sometime. Unuh like disrespect ppl, bout sound illiterate (cuh pan yuh to, cut mi damn eye)and when ppl equally disrespectful to unuh d fus thing unuh bawl out bout illiterate! I know sometimes it better to I walk away, but the urge to respond was too strong, d gal not even seh condolence to d mother on her loss, she a comment pan who mi hate from who mi nuh hate, she nuh have no sensitivity, but she just a run har mouth. realtalk u r a brutal, unfeeling, unthinking baffoon, and there should be universal disgust fi yuh!Yuh a seh mi sound illiterate yuh magnitudes worst in every conceivable way!!!
as I Jamaican when I go to Trinidad I get much love.. they ask you where you from and you tell them and they be like ‘Come” lol
only in the states you get this bullshit Trini vs Jama shit…….
Grew up in 3 east with him, wasn’t as innocent as mother is potraying him to be but nobody deserves to die like that….hope she gets some form of justice but if justice is to be served on character reference, I doubt it