Painful death

75-year-old went to retrieve her goats but drowns as heavy rain floods Sandy Gully

Vivian Shaw wept as he stared at the spot where his mother's body was found yesterday afternoon.

Hugged by relatives — tears streaming down their faces as well — Shaw watched in disbelief as police secured the scene, awaiting undertakers, who arrived later to remove the body of 75-year-old Beryl Bryant from the bank of the Sandy Gully in Riverton, more than two miles from her Drewsland, St Andrew, community where flood waters had washed her away Thursday evening.

“Mi couldn't sleep. Mi just a walk up and down inna di house. Mi did haffi come out fi find har,” Shaw said.

“My mother was my father; she grow three a wi without father, enuh. Mi woulda move mountains fi mi mother. No matter what, mi did haffi find her, but mi still never expect mi mother fi dead like this — drown and wash up inna bush. I expect my mother to probably die in her bed,” he added.

His mother, he pointed out, was a stubborn woman. At the same time, Shaw said he couldn't understand why she waited until it started raining on Thursday to retrieve four of her goats.

The goats, the Jamaica Observer was told, were in the Sandy Gully — where they grazed almost daily — when a thunderstorm hit the Corporate Area, flooding streets and gullies.

Bryant attempted to retrieve the animals, but was taken away by the flood waters, triggering panic among her family and neighbours who went searching for her after 5:00 pm when the rain ceased.

However, the search was suspended at dusk.

“The search continued after 5:00 am (yesterday) and the teams went from the Molynes Road area all the way down. We used drones and other amenities available and it was about 12:30 pm that her body was stumbled upon,” Superintendent Damion Manderson, who is in charge of operations at the St Andrew South Police Division, told the Observer.

“It is a really tragic time for the family but at least they have some sort of closure,” he added.

Christopher Irving — a resident of Waterhouse who was in the search party comprising relatives, neighbours, police, soldiers and firefighters — said it was he who found the body of the woman he called 'mommy' after he heard a goat bleating.

“I found mommy. I heard a goat calling out and mi come down here and siddung pon a stone. I was still listening out for the goat same way and when mi reach di spot, mi see har foot,” Irving said.

“Mi feel happy fi find her, but it is sad to know that the people lost their loved one,” he said.

Earlier, while the search was in progress, the Observer went to Bryant's house where here relatives and neighbours described her as a stubborn woman who had an unbreakable bond with her dog and goats.

“Beryl love har goat dem and har dog. A go she go fi di goat dem and di water just come over. She walk wid a stick, so she couldn't run. Imagine how she a cry out and har yard deh right deh so but nobody to hear her call out,” said Pauline Forrest.

Bryant's daughter-in-law told the Observer that her goats were her prized possession. She, too, questioned why the senior citizen didn't go for the goats before it had started raining.

“She takes care of her goats and you can't tell her anything about her goats. She always say, 'Yuh lucky' if we say anything about the goats. She always have a little dog that follows the goats and carry them back in. She left out here when di rain start heavy. I feel bad, because when you can't find a loved one, it is hard,” said the woman who shared that Bryant became her guardian after she lost her biological mother.

Leave a comment below