A bereaved mother, whose child died last Sunday (Dec. 11) at the JNF General Hospital, has dispelled wild rumours that her daughter’s death was caused by an overdose of medication.
Jahida James of Upper Market Street, Basseterre died of unknown circumstances Sunday morning after she was seen earlier on the road in the vicinity of the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) flagging down passing motor vehicles and heard shouting “help me…help me”.
Shortly after her demise, rumours rapidly spread throughout St. Kitts that James had consumed an overdose of medication and had fell dead on the roadway next to the Cenotaph.
In an exclusive interview with her mother, Juliana James, SKNVibes was told that the rumours are false and that her daughter had died of a strange illness at the hospital after falling to the ground in the vicinity of the CFBC.
The mother also said that on Monday (Dec. 12), a local pathologist had performed a post mortem on her daughter’s body and the results were inconclusive, adding that “some organs were removed for further analysis to determine the cause of death”.
This information was confirmed by the newly-appointed Head of the Criminal Investigations Department, Inspector Charles Smithen.
Recounting recent events prior to her daughter’s death, Juliana said James had taken ill in July and was admitted to the hospital.
“In July this year, Jahida developed a high fever which made her delirious and she was admitted to the Medical Ward at the JNF Hospital. She was in there for a few days receiving treatment for the fever, but after we told them that a couple of days before she was admitted she was suffering from dehydration, they then started treating her for that.
“She was discharged a few days after but we had to take her back to the hospital, because the high fever started again. She was again admitted to the Medical Ward where she spent about three to four days, during which time she was treated but again became delirious and they transferred her to the Psychiatric Ward.
“At that ward, they did an evaluation, gave her some medication to be taken daily and sent her home. However, while at home, she followed the instructions on administering the medication, but after taking them she started to tremble uncontrollably. Her lips started to swell and she was crying out that she felt a tingling feeling in her head…she had even stopped menstruating.
“One day, a nephew who lives with us took the names of the medication that Jahida was using and he went and research them on the net. He found out that all the side effects that Jahida was experiencing were caused by the medication.”
Juliana said they immediately told her daughter to discontinue using the medication, which she did.
Shortly thereafter, she fell into a state of depression, which the mother said had resulted from her unsuccessful attempts to acquire a job to assist her eight-year-old son and the business that her parents own, which adjoins their Upper Market Street home.
“Jahida had taken a loan to assist me and her father with the business. But since her illness, she has been out of work and the loan repayment was one of those things that rested on her mind. She had also wanted to know that she could have provided the basic needs and some of the wants for her son, especially a college and university education that had eluded her due to financial circumstances.
“These problems and her recent disappointment at a job interview, coupled with her recuperating from her illness, had driven Jahida into a state of depression and she was not eating anything. Since her illness, she had been sleeping between my home and her sister’s. Her sister’s husband would regularly take her out in the mornings for physical exercises, and he was doing just that on the day that she died.”
Juliana explained that on that fateful morning, her son-in-law had taken James on her physical routine but he had to leave her to do a chore in McKnight.
“When he left her, she also went into Thibou Avenue in McKnight but to see her son’s dad. I was told that she went to him to get a picture of her son because she did not have one. This came about because the Wednesday and Thursday before her death, the depression had taken hold of her and she was heard saying that she could not sleep well she did not get a photo of her son.
“The boy’s father promised to get her a copy of the one he had on the following day, so she left his home. I was at the time preparing to go to church and was waiting on her to go with me, when a neighbour called out to me saying, ‘Julie, Julie I see Jahida across the street and her eyes like they bulging out and putting her hands in the air saying help her, her to every vehicle that pass by her.’
The mother said that she immediately left her home for the area where her daughter was seen. However, when she got here she saw members of a unit from the Emergency Medical Services had her daughter on a stretcher and was putting her in an ambulance.
“I then left for the hospital and waiting for a long time, when a doctor came out and told me that she passed. I felt terrible because none of us was there with her before and after she was taken to the hospital.
“On the Monday morning while I was at the hospital, a guy came up and asked if I was the mother of the young lady that died, and I said yes. He told me that she was on the street saying help her and he stopped and put her in his pick-up truck, but she ran out of it still saying, ‘Help me, help me.’
“He said he ran behind her and told her that he would help by taking her home, but she refused to go back in his pick-up truck. The guy also told me that while she was attempting to stop every vehicle that passed by her, a bus struck her and spun her around but it did not stop.”
Reminiscing on her daughter’s early life, Juliana said the 27-year-old started her education journey at the Wings of Love Pre-school and moved on to the Seventh Day Adventist Primary School.
“We moved her from there and took her to Convent, but after the fees started raising we couldn’t afford it and we moved her to the Dr. William Connor primary School and then to the Washington Archibald High School.
“Unfortunately, she did not graduate from that school and so we sent her to evening classes to study Accounts, and she gained a few certificates in that field.”
Like her mother, Jahida’s father, Alvin James, is perturbed over the rumours which they both claimed included their daughter consuming a poisonous substance.
“Some people say that she had taken an overdose of her medication. But we know that she was not on medication…she was taking vitamins to rebuild herself. And there are others who are saying that she drank gramoxone. I am dispelling these rumours and we can only know why she has gone to her Maker after the cause of death is revealed by the pathologist. So, I am pleading with those rumour mongers to desist from spreading false information,” the grieving mother pleaded.
(Source http://www.sknvibes.com/news/newsdetails.cfm/50933)
