Ed Hyman - Contributed

By Jonique Gaynor, Staff Reporter

Last Easter, 21-year-old Ed Hyman moved to Antigua to live with his mother. Ed returned to Jamaica a few days ago, but this was not the homecoming his friends and relatives wanted - his body was flown here to be buried.

Originally from Yallahs, St. Thomas, the former student of Excelsior Community College (Wesley Grove) was brutally murdered along the Herbert main road in Georgetown, Antigua, on February 23. Ed was chopped twice in the head and once in the palm. His left hand was almost severed and he was stabbed in the chest and shot twice in the stomach. Two weeks after his death and a few days after his memorial, Ed's family still has no idea why the youngster was killed and say they are getting no help from the Antiguan police.

Frantic phone call

His mother, Alzie Williams, recalled : "I was sick and it was his day off. He was at home with me the entire day until about four in the evening when he told me that he was going into town to check if his pay was in the bank. I asked him to pick up some things for me and he came back and packed the fridge. I heard him turn off the TV and then he passed through my room, touched me on the shoulder and said he was going on the road, he'll soon be back."

Ed never returned and a frantic phone call from her sister in Jamaica was the first sign that something was wrong. The police had taken Ed's phone and called his aunt in Jamaica. Williams said, "My sister called me on the house phone and told me to call Ed's phone because something is wrong." She tried calling her son several times but he didn't answer. Just when she was about to call the police, a friend came to the house and told her to "be strong, put on all black and come".

Williams fainted twice that night, and it was while heading to the hospital that she came upon her son's murder scene. An alleged eye witness who was reportedly driving along the road claimed to have seen two persons wrestling and one stabbing the other repeatedly. When the car stopped, the attacker ran off. According to medical reports, Ed sustained a punctured lung, damaged liver and several stab wounds all over his body.

He was reportedly alive for at least 45 minutes after being attacked. She revealed, "For about 45 minutes, he was talking. I heard that he was saying he wants to sit down, he wants water and he can't breathe. He also asked them not to let him die. He didn't want to die."

Apart from hearing that a 50-year-old man had been taken into custody, Williams has received no updates from the police. "I don't know if they still hold him or if they let him go," she said. Though no one can confirm it, one theory is that Ed was killed by persons who dislike foreigners, especially Jamaicans. It is said that he worked in an area where the locals were not tolerant towards Jamaicans and Guyanese.

Williams added, "Ed doesn't go out and stay long. He's always in the house watching TV. Everytime I come home, he's here watching TV."

She is frustrated by the lack of support from the police and said, "They are being tight-lipped. I ask them about it, and they say they're investigating ... they're dealing with it. I'm not satisfied."

Repeated attempts to contact police officials in Antigua were unsuccessful.