Police are continuing their investigation into the death of 27-year-old Jahkeem Brown of Fort Road, whose body was discovered at the former Bruce’s Night Club in Hatton early Monday morning.
According to reports, Brown’s body was found lying in the open courtyard of the property around 4:25 am by residents in the area.
Police and a forensics team arrived at the scene shortly after being notified, and a medical doctor later pronounced him dead at 7:30am.
Hudson Joseph, stepfather of the deceased, revealed that Brown had struggled with his mental health for approximately 11 years and was diagnosed with marijuana-induced psychosis during one of his stays at Clare Vue Hospital.
Joseph described Brown as non-confrontational, saying, “He wasn’t a troublesome guy. There are times when he’d say to people ‘can I have something to eat’ or ‘can I have a dollar’ and you give it to him, or you say no, and he just walks away from you.”
When asked how the parents are coping with the sudden loss, Joseph indicated that the family is struggling emotionally but trying to remain strong.
“The father is breaking down, the mom is not really handling it well, but you have to try to keep a face when everybody is coming to look for you. Everybody wants to know what happened and you yourself don’t know what happened. It’s not an easy time at the moment. We are now just trying to take it one day at a time.”
The family has expressed concerns about their ability to grieve privately due to social media involvement by social activist Mary John, who reportedly first made contact with Brown’s mother in January last year.
“When you’re on Facebook, you’re seeing somebody who basically took over. The reason why we know it’s been taken over is because she engaged the media and when you try to speak to her, she shuts down the conversation,” Joseph explained.
Joseph is countering claims that Brown wasn’t being properly cared for, revealing that as recently as March 15, Jahkeem’s mother, Shirlette Joseph, had taken him out. She’d cleaned him up, Joseph said, and bought him fresh clothes. They celebrated his birthday together, demonstrating ongoing involvement in his life.
Brown’s grandfather had also gone so far as to build a house for the young man to live in, wanting to ensure his grandson had somewhere safe to live.
“He was being loved. He was being helped. But everybody wants to be published,” Joseph stated, suggesting misrepresentation of the family’s care efforts.
Authorities have not commented on whether foul play is suspected.
A postmortem is set to determine the exact cause of death, as investigations remain ongoing.
