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By Tiffany Pryce
A 39 year-old Jamaican woman, Tatchine Weir, who travelled to Antigua in June in search of a better life, died unexpectedly on Tuesday morning, two days after she was scheduled to return home.
The mother of three was known for her love and dedication to her family. Her daughter, Tamara Hawes, said she went to Antigua to stay with her boyfriend.
“He’s Jamaican but him over there a work. He invited her to stay with him but she keep on a tell me say she want come home,” Hawes recalled. She said she encouraged her to stay.
“[I told her] stay and see if you can make a way for a better life.” However, she said Weir struggled to find work, eventually giving up her job as a cleaner. After visiting a hairdresser, she said, her mother started experiencing severe headaches.
“From she do the hair and pull it out, her head don’t stop hurt her. So mi tell her to tell the man say you want come home,” Hawes said. For three weeks, she said Weir endured debilitating headaches which reinforced her decision to come home. Weir called Hawes to inform her that a ticket had been booked for her return to Jamaica. But she could not reach her last Friday, September 20, or most of the following day. She finally contacted her mother on Saturday evening.
“I suspected she was coming on Sunday [September 22], but she didn’t confirm because she said she wanted it to be a surprise,” Hawes explained. “I knew that she was coming because we spoke late in the night and she already looked dressed.”
According to Hawes, her mother called her brother on Sunday morning and told him that she was coming and that he should pick her up at the airport.
“But, by the time I went to the shop and come back, I saw a number of missed calls on my phone. I thought she had reached Jamaica and they were just calling to get to my uncle to pick her up. Only to hear that my mother was in the hospital,” she said. Hawes said that she spoke with a man on the phone who indicated her mother was not speaking coherently.
“One a the time mi a wonder if a the headache lick her head,” she said. By Monday morning, she said, her mother had been sent home from the hospital, but her condition was alarming.
“When she a talk to me, she a talk like baby. She know she has three children but a my name alone she coulda remember. She asked me if she’s not coming home and mi start cry,” Hawes said. The following day, during a video call, Hawes learned that her mother was gone.
“Mi say, mek mi see her and, when mi look and see her, tears run out a mi eye and mi say to him ‘Mi mother dead, she gone now.'” Since then, Hawes said, she has neither eaten nor slept.
“Mi just sit down and mi want know how mi mother dead. Her death seem strange because her suitcase was packed and she was dressed,” she said.
As questions and speculations about Weir’s death linger, Hawes is urging the authorities to investigate thoroughly.
“I don’t want to assume anything. I will just wait on the autopsy, which they say will take two weeks,” she stated. In addition to her grief, Hawes now faces the logistical and financial challenges of bringing her mother’s body to Jamaica.
“She wanted to come home; otherwise she will not rest.”
Really sad. Hv to be careful who put their hands in your hair!
His kill thy kill her worst thy dont love jamaican over ya
I dont think that man wanted her to leave Antigua.
Why we so quick to blame the man. Who say the person that do her hair didn’t fix her?
Hurts my heart that now the family is now in a worse situation than when she started her journey to Antigua.
Reason mi nah want any and any body do my hair.
Wow, really sorry to hear this. Very unfortunate situation. I’m sure her daughter will be running all kinds of what ifs through her mind.
Like, if she had gotten to reach back to Jamaica maybe she could have been helped and perhaps avoid this outcome.
I feel that there could have been some negligence or foul play somewhere. The head aches are a good sign of that. Or it could have been some medical health issue in connection with chemicals or procedures to do with getting her hair done in a specific style or fashion. This will have to fully investigated and research by a persistent and skillful law enforcement professional.
This sounds like a stroke. The headaches were a warning sign. Maybe if treatment had been sought at that stage, what followed could have been avoided.
SO SO SAD .I PRAY FOR THE FAMILY AS ITS A VERY SAD SITUATION. ALSO WE CANNOT JUMP TO MAKE NEGATIVE COMMENT. BUT THE FAMILY NEEEED ANSWERS.. JAMAICANPLS LET US ALL COME TOGETHER AND PUT UP SOME CASH TO GET HER BODY TO JAMAICA
My heart hurts hearing about this story. So sad
It’s so sad reading this article. Imagine coming for the better of life n not getting the better of it. She should have gone checking this headache long time
I pray for her family and friends. May peace come to you and answers about her death