Woman seeks help to bury murdered relative

It has been a little more than two weeks since Steffany Gayle has had a good night's rest.

Speaking with THE STAR yesterday, she said that not only is she grieving the gruesome murder of her granduncle Hartman Johnson, but she is left burdened with a funeral bill that she is unable to cover.

"I have been crying for days," she said, adding that she has had to resort to taboo activities to help raise the cash, not that it's helping.

"Mi nah make any money because mi have to be working and a run from police at the same time," she said. "Mi go view mi granduncle body and mi just feel terrible from dem time deh. Everything just a go wrong."

The 68-year-old Johnson was killed at his home in Windsor Heights, St Catherine, on February 26. According to police reports, passers-by summoned the police after discovering Johnson laying unresponsive at the entrance to his house. Upon arrival, officers observed that Johnson was in a pool of blood and had wounds to the neck, face and torso. The scene was processed and the body removed for pronouncement.

"He didn't have any children so he lived alone for a while now. I don't know that man to trouble people. For him, is from church to work because him do labourer work sometimes. I don't know why someone would want to kill him. Dem chop him all in him face," Gayle said.

A crying Gayle said she last spoke to Johnson earlier this year and described him as a quiet and honest senior citizen.

"Mi uncle fava mi grandmother and I love my grandmother, so once I see him, it was like I was looking at her. In January, him come around mi grandmother and she fed him and I told him I would buy the gas for him. When I got the money and call him, he was so honest because he told me that he got money from a relative overseas, so I could keep mine. To know him just dead like that hurt mi bad," she said.

She stated that other family members who have agreed to provide assistance with the funeral package have since backed out, leaving her to foot the bill alone. Gayle said Johnson's remains are currently being stored at Roman's Funeral Home, and a cremation package, she said, comes at a cost of $491,000. She said the family is unable to meet this amount.

"Honestly, although I am providing my banking details, no one has to send any cash to me. They can send it straight to the funeral home. All I want is for my granduncle to get a send-off. I am thankful to anyone who is willing to help us out please. Right now I am not doing well healthwise and all of this is just making things worse. It's a lot," Gayle said.

Anyone wishing to assist with the burial of Hartman Johnson may make donations to Steffany Gayle NCB savings account #204287171, or Scotiabank savings account #000913729.