The adage ‘hindsight is 20/20’ has never meant more to the life of St Michael businessman Jeffrey Large Mayers than it does now.
On Sunday morning, he took Jamal Quintyne to Crystal Heights, St James to purchase a motorcycle. He offered to take the bike back to their Belle, St Michael community, but Jamal refused, instead opting to ride it home.
In a horrific turn of events, Jamal crashed his bike just a stone’s throw away from home and died on the spot.
“It’s devastating for me because I told him that we could put the motorcycle in the back of the van and bring it up the road, but then after that, he just said nah, he is going to ride,” Mayers, the owner of Large Ital Shop, located at Belle, St Michael told Barbados TODAY.
“I was escorting him but then I had to go down to town, so then I swung off and he came straight up the highway. He didn’t even make it home. He didn’t even get to enjoy his motorcycle,” the businessman lamented.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY at his business, Mayers recalled that sometime after parting ways with Jamal, he heard about a motorcycle accident at the Belle and became nervous.
“I left and went to the accident and on arrival there, I realised it was him. When I got there, he was already covered with a sheet and I asked one of my friends to tell me what the person was wearing,” Mayers recounted.
It was the same black pants and white vest he was wearing in photos and videos circulating on social media, showing Jamal riding off with his new bike.
“He could have let me put it in the back of the van and bring it down the road. He probably would be here all now,” he added.
Throughout the communities of The Belle and Licorish Village, Jamal, also known as Horse, was remembered as a hustler. He worked in construction with his father Martin Alfred from time to time and with Mayers, delivering Ital food around the Bridgetown area.
“He would just keep to himself and look for money,” said Mayers. “He would pick up bottles and sell them as well. He would go and pick fruits from trees for people to make drinks, all kinds of things. Whatever you wanted done, he was always there.
“He told me that his intention was really to hire out the motorcycle because Crop Over was coming up and he knew tourists would be coming, so he would hire it out and make back about $60 a day to make some money off of it. He wasn’t really into it for the fun of it, because it was just a [motor] scooter. When he went to buy it, it was a bit peppy, it was a bit quick,” he remembered.
At 3rd Avenue, Licorish Village, Jamal’s sister, who declined to give her name, said she was sad and confused about the developments.
“All I know is that he went to buy the motorcycle and on his way back, he died. Honestly, I am hearing a lot of stories and I don’t know if he hit a wall or if he was hit by someone and that person drove off,” she told Barbados TODAY.
“It really hurts to see that he is gone and honestly I don’t know how to feel, because I haven’t been able to bring myself to say that he is dead. It hurts everybody, but my brother seems to be taking it the hardest because every five minutes he is crying,” she added.
Jamal, who was the first of his father’s six children, was adopted by an “older couple” from an early age. When they died, he was left on the streets, apparently unknown to his biological relatives.
His sister revealed that at the age of 19, she started receiving letters from her brother Jamal who was in prison.
“I always knew I had a brother named Jamal. I just didn’t know him personally and that is how I got to know him. I would go and look for him and he would always tell me to tell our little brother ‘don’t ever end up in [prison], because jail is not a good place’ and he wanted to get out,” she said.
On Sunday, she recalled feeling hurt to hear about the accident close to home and that someone had woken up and did not make it through the day. Little did she know that it was her brother. It was especially surprising because he was not known as an avid bike rider.
“We were so puzzled to hear that he died on a motorcycle, because nobody has ever seen him on a motorcycle yet,” she said. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb
