The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG 

Tribune Staff Reporter 

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE cousin of a 19-year-old barber who was killed following a traffic incident three months ago is lamenting the failure of police to classify his relative’s death.

Jamesly Richmond was riding his motorbike when he was reportedly struck by a vehicle. He was found badly injured on the road on June 23 and died on June 25 in the Princess Margaret Hospital.

The disappearance of his bike prompted family and friends to speculate that foul play was involved.

Mark Baptise, Richmond’s cousin, said police classified his relative’s case as a death investigation, meaning authorities are working to determine if the man died due to natural causes, an accident, or homicide.

Chief Superintendent Anton Rahming said yesterday that the matter is still under active investigation.

The last time the family heard from police was before the teen’s funeral in July.

“I’m not happy with it because I want the guys to be punished,” Mr Baptise said yesterday.

“It’s kind of devastating. It will get you upset every once in a while, thinking about it, that those guys might be on the street still

roaming the street, enjoying themselves, and then your loved one that you lose, he’s gone forever, and there’s no way that you can bring him back.

“So hopefully sooner or later they get deal with or the police deal with it sooner or later, but they ain’t giving us no information. We haven’t had any lead to say who it is, who it ain’t.”

Mr Richmond’s relatives had begged him not to buy a motorbike, fearing it would put him in danger and jeopardise his safety.

“If a car and a bike hit, the person who is be severely injured, it’s not the car, it’s not the individuals in the car — it’s the one on the bike,” Mr Baptise said.

“So we was trying to avoid him from getting the bike so something like what happened wouldn’t have happened.”