The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

THE mother of Christopher Adderley, a Bahamian man who died in custody in Haiti last September, believes her son would still be alive if Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials had “listened to her and done their job” instead of ignoring her pleas for help.

In an interview with The Tribune, Sharon Rosemary Adderley said she “begged and pleaded” with officials, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Fred Mitchell, to ensure that her son received the medication he needed while incarcerated in Port-de-Paix for the blood clots in his leg.

Instead, Mrs Adderley claimed that she was allegedly scammed out of “$20,000” by a Haitian lawyer and ignored “time and time again” by ministry officials in Haiti until her son “died a slow, painful death.”

Last September, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement confirmed that after nearly two years in custody in Haiti, Mr Adderley died on Tuesday, September 22, 2015.

Mr Adderley and another Bahamian were in custody in Port-de-Paix since February 16, 2014, according to the ministry’s statement, which did not indicate the reason for his detention or the enforcement agency involved.

Mrs Adderley said the last time she saw her son alive was on February 15, 2014. She said he left Stella Maris airport in Long Island for Haiti allegedly to pick up a friend and fellow pilot, Hughie Gray. Mrs Adderley said when her son did not return home, she learned that his plane had crashed in bushes slightly off the runway at an airport in Cape Haitien and that he and the other pilot were being held for questioning in connection with allegedly trafficking in illicit drugs.

This is when Mrs Adderley said her nightmare began.

After a year of attempting to contact Mr Mitchell and receive assistance from the ministry to get her son out of jail, Mrs Adderley said she learned he was sick in January 2015.

“I got a text from a lady in Haiti saying he was very sick,” she told The Tribune. “I spoke to him in January and he said he was having really bad pains in his legs and he could not get any medication or pain killers from anyone at the prison. Christopher was on medication for blood clots in his legs and needed his medicine daily. I spoke with Christopher regularly and in April he told me his leg was worse and he still had not received any help. I spoke to the (deputy Bahamian consulate in Haiti) and begged him to check on Christopher.

“He told me that the prison was three hours away and he could not go at that time. In September it got worse, I asked (the official) again to please check on Christopher and take him the medication, because at this time, it had been eight months since Christopher complained about pains and no one was helping him.”

“On the 7th (of September) I asked (the official) again and then on the 10th I called back and pleaded with him, he still did not go. On the 13th, I spoke with Christopher and he told me not to worry about his leg anymore and to make sure to tell everyone to go to church and give their life to Christ, that is when I knew he had given up and he was going to die.

“I spoke with (the ministry official) on the 20th and begged him to please carry the medication or Christopher would die, he promised me he would go. Three days later my son was dead.”

Mrs Adderley said she was in a class on Wednesday, September 23, 2015 when she learned Christopher had died in his jail cell one day earlier. She said when his body was brought to New Providence she had an autopsy done and learned that he died from a heart attack after a blood clot travelled to his heart. She said she was told he had “dozens of blood clots throughout his entire body.”

Mrs Adderley said she is disheartened by the lack of compassion Mr Mitchell showed her and her family and questioned why no Bahamian officials in Haiti took her son the medication he needed to save his life.

“Why did he have to suffer so long without any help? Why didn’t they help him? We give free health care to Haitians in the Bahamas all the time but no one thought my son was worthy enough to have this medication. It is a shame.”

Last week, Mr Mitchell said his ministry is investigating the cause of Mr Adderley’s death.

“We have asked of the Haitian government to disclose to us what happened. But I think there was an issue as to whether an autopsy would be allowed, and so that is an issue I am seeking to investigate because an autopsy may determine what happened and what transpired,” Mr Mitchell said.

He explained that the ministry is responsible for providing a couple of services when someone is arrested or detained: to ensure their access to a lawyer and access to their families.

“So in this instance all of those services were provided, including regular consular visits,” Mr Mitchell said. “Any time complaints were made there were responses made to those complaints.”

The other Bahamian man who was incarcerated with Mr Adderley was released from the Haitian prison and is now in the Bahamas.