{"id":1546,"date":"2018-06-20T20:45:53","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T20:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=1546"},"modified":"2018-06-20T20:53:14","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T20:53:14","slug":"im-all-alone-father-of-dead-7-y-o-speaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=1546","title":{"rendered":"‘I’M ALL ALONE’ – Father of dead 7-y-o speaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Nattoo<\/strong> – Staff Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe image of his body lying there in the morgue, I can\u2019t get it out of my head. When I close my eyes, I see him. I keep seeing them wrapping his broken body in a bag, wrapping him in a sheet and putting him in a bag \u2013 he was my only child, my son. I haven\u2019t slept in days…\u201d \u2013 the words of Easton Stapleton Snr who, despite not being able to sleep over the past few days, has been trapped in every parent\u2019s worst nightmare. <\/strong><\/p>\n

He has not been able to shake the image of his deceased 7-year-old from his mind, and with no professional help forthcoming, it seems that damning nightmare is set to continue.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, June 15), the Western Mirror<\/strong> reported on the tragic incident which claimed the life of young Easton Stapleton Jr, who was involved in a freak accident on the grounds of the Anchovy Primary School. The minor had reportedly just left class, when he was moments later run over by a teacher\u2019s car, killing him on the spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of my family is out of the country, so aside from friends who called me when they saw me on the news, I\u2019ve really gotten no professional help to get through this\u2026 and I need it,\u201d a sleep-deprived Stapleton explained to the Western Mirror<\/strong>. The grieving father revealed that because of thoughts he harboured following the tragedy surrounding his son, and in a desperate bid to get some form of psychiatric help, he considered going to the Cornwall Regional Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to go somewhere, to talk to someone. Generally, when I talk to people in the streets or elsewhere, they just try to rationalize what happened to my son. But I don\u2019t want that,\u201d Stapleton lamented, citing that he just wanted a listening ear, and is disheartened that no professional has seen it fit to reach out to him, despite him giving his contact information to a number of them who requested such from him at the time of his son\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Conversely, according to Stapleton, the mother of his son has been getting the professional help he so desperately needs, but he revealed that their strained relationship has prevented him from partaking in it. \u201cShe lives in Ramble, but I was told by a relative of hers that I am not allowed to visit the house,\u201d Stapleton explained. He continued: \u201cThe other day I was at home and I was thinking about everything, and I started feeling something in my chest. I had to go to one of my neighbour\u2019s, who helped me to feel better.\u201d Stapleton added that the whole incident has taken a toll on him, both physically and mentally, and reveals that the isolation he now feels has made everything worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I\u2019m walking and talking to myself, asking \u2018EJ (short for Easton Jnr), why you gone? Why didn\u2019t you come home?\u2019 It\u2019s just been really tough,\u201d the hurting father said, \u201cI don\u2019t know\u2026 I don\u2019t know how to take it. I\u2019ve never had a child before, I\u2019ve never had a relative who\u2019s lost a child before, so everything \u2013 from his death to dealing with it, is all new to me. It\u2019s all new territory for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

PROPOSITION<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the meantime, despite his grief, Stapleton has considered ways of curtailing incidents such as the one which cost him his son, explaining to the Western Mirror<\/strong> that the government needs to do more in order to prevent these kinds of accidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis happened on a school compound, so it could have been any other child. The government needs to consider dedicating separate roadways for children and cars on school properties. More than one kid could have died, you know? They need to look at something, to make some kind of change to prevent these things,\u201d Stapleton proposed.<\/p>\n

Stapleton looked exhausted, but without being prompted to, revealed that his son would have officially lived with him in November \u2013 something they both excitedly looked forward to.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I remember going up by his school, and hugging him and kissing him, telling him I needed him to focus because I want him to get an education,\u201d Stapleton reminisced. \u201cYou know how kids get when they are around their friends, he was embarrassed, but he was happy. As opposed to other reports, I\u2019ve known my son way before and far longer than two months and was looking forward to many more. Now, none of that will happen. Somehow, I still can\u2019t come to grips with this, because I refuse to accept that it\u2019s real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stapleton revealed that he has since made attempts to get in touch with the investigating officer handling his son\u2019s case, as he wishes to expedite the process for the autopsy, which he was told may take place within three to six months. However, he has not been able to reach the officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tried calling the officer, but his phone rings without end. I even visited the police station wanting to get in touch with him, or even a superintendent, but nobody seems to care enough about my requests,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Even so, Stapleton holds out hope that he will soon get the help he needs and remains optimistic that his son\u2019s autopsy will be completed soon, so that he may have access to the body.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Nattoo – Staff Reporter \u201cThe image of his body lying there in the morgue, I can\u2019t get it out of my head. When I close my eyes, I see him. I keep seeing them wrapping his broken body in a bag, wrapping him in a sheet and putting him in a bag \u2013 he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[217,737,359,733,736,734,735,218,30],"class_list":["post-1546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-accident","tag-anchovy-primary","tag-death","tag-easton-stapleton","tag-ej","tag-jnr","tag-snr","tag-tragedy","tag-western-jamaica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1546"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1550,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions\/1550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}