ÐÓ°ÉÐÔ°É

The Farquharson family has been buried under grief for weeks.

Weeks ago, a son died tragically. Days later, they lost an aunt, and on the day they were digging the grave for the son, a cousin also suddenly passed away. Now, they have suffered another unbearable loss - the family patriarch.

"Him nuh even live fi see him grandbaby born," said Otafia Farquharson, standing at the front of the family yard on Tavern Avenue in Papine, St Andrew. It's a yard that her father, Norris Farquharson, had worked tirelessly to build, block by block.

"Mi father work day and night, mi can tell yuh, him nuh rest. All fi mek sure we nah haffi stretch we hand out to nuhbaddy." On Tuesday morning, the 57-year-old entrepreneur and construction worker was shot dead by a licensed firearm holder after a dispute in the lane. When THE STAR visited, the lane was unusually empty. The smell of cement still hung faintly where Farquharson had last worked - his name still painted on the gate. But the house behind it had fallen silent, his daughters muffled sobs tucked away inside.

Otafia said that her father and the other man, who was taken into custody, were not strangers.

"Dem a did friend," she said. "Is mi father help him wid a lot a things. Him is the same man who build the vault fi lock away the gun because mi father weld too."

Security footage shows Farquharson standing in the lane, pointing out to the other man that they were not on private premises.

"Lick mi nuh, lick mi. Lick mi and draw gun pan mi nuh," he is heard saying. Suddenly, the other man steps back, reaches for his waistband, and pulls a firearm. Two shots rang out striking Farquharson fatally in the head. The other man could be heard saying "A knife yuh draw pan me boi." Farquharson was transported to the University Hospital of the West Indies, where he was pronounced dead. Inside the home, grief spilled over.

"Mi cya even find the words fi explain," another daughter sobbed. Otafia, holding up her father's locked work tablet, shook her head.

"Dem a seh mi father did have knife, but a di tablet him did have. Weh di self-defence?" she questioned.

Beyond the heartbreak, practical worries loom. Business records and payments are locked inside the device, and no one knows how to retrieve them.

"Mi father is a no-nonsense person. All when him cuss him worker dem today, him a call dem back tomorrow." But amid the chaos, one memory glows softly for Otafia, a birthday celebrated just days before.

"Mi last memory was him birthday, May 16," she recalled. "Mi ask him weh him wah we do fi him birthday, and him say, 'Everybody must take them money and buy themself something.'" She smiled faintly through the tears.

"We never listen to him. We end up buy some fish and chicken and jerk, and we celebrate him birthday. Anno the last memory but a the last memory mi want fi remember," she said. From a nearby gate, one neighbour quietly shared her shock at the deadly turn of events.

"We always know say dem have dem little arguments, but mi never think it woulda reach this," the woman said. "Norris was a man who help plenty people inna di lane. Him work hard and him look out fi him family."

Senior Superintendent Mark Harris, head of the St Andrew Central Police Division, confirmed that investigations are ongoing. As the residents wait for the legal process to unfold, the Farquharson family is left in the raw space of their grief.

"Mi father work too hard, help too much people, fi dead so," Otafia said firmly. "Justice haffi serve. Mi wah justice fi mi father."