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Executed man buried, family questions reports about ties to underworld
Close relatives of executed miner Dave Jason Wills described him as “a loving father and husband” and “a hard-working and decent individual” while expressing skepticism about reports that seemed to tie him to known underworld figures.
The 33-year-old Wills was buried last Friday following a simple ceremony attended by relatives and close friends. Police have not arrested any suspects and, his mother, Merle, who returned from the US to bury her son, indicated that she prefers to leave it up to God to provide answers regarding her son’s brutal death.
Jason Wills
“I came and buried him and I am going back. I am not looking for answers (about his death) and if I get any answers, my answers will come from God.”
“All that we are hearing is speculation. I don’t want to know who his associates were. All that I know is that my son was killed unjustifiably. I was not in that sort of world in which they portrayed him to be. I did not raise him that way. His family is a quiet, decent family and he was also quiet and decent. His family is not attached to the life that they painted him to be attached to. He was hard-working.”
There were also suggestions that Wills might have been the victim of mistaken identity.
Stressing that her son was not a wealthy individual and that he relied on her support, Wills’ mother said that she had provided him with US$50 and $4,000 in local currency for his trip from Mahdia to Georgetown.
“He did not have to wait on me to give him money if he had so much. With all of that ‘underworld stuff’ I should have been well off. Dave was not worried about anything. I spoke to him Thursday evening (some hours before his execution) and he said he had no beef with anyone.”
Kaieteur News was told that Wills had a security job in Mahdia and had planned to repair a truck and put it back into service.
His reputed wife, who makes and sells pastries, described him as a loving father and husband.
She explained that Ricardo Rodrigues, who was gunned down last year and to whose name Wills is being tied, had operated a dredge at Mahdia in an area near to where Wills was located.
She said that her reputed husband had told her that he was attending Rodrigues’ funeral “to pay his respects” and “the very next day he came back home”.
The father of seven was gunned down at around 20:00 hrs three Thursdays ago while staying at a friend’s house in Meadowbrook Gardens. It is alleged that at least two gunmen, armed with an assault rifle and semi-automatic pistol, entered through the front door, which the occupants had left open.
Wills’ friend and the man’s mother-in-law alleged that they were all watching television but that they both went to the kitchen together, leaving Wills in the living room.
The mother-in-law reportedly told police that she heard Wills shout “Oh God, don’t do duh, don’t do duh…” before gunfire erupted in the living room.
The friend alleged that he heard the gunshots some 30 seconds after entering the kitchen. The occupants denied seeing the gunmen enter or leave.
Police are still to come up with a clear motive as to why Wills was slain. Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell told Kaieteur News that investigators were “working on some leads” and were hoping to effect arrests, while another official stated that investigators were seeking “a person of interest.”
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