“Right now I’m asking God to give me the strength to get through this”

Mar 31, 2025 News

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—says mother of Charlestown boy who died after gunshot in the  head 

By Shania Williams

Kaieteur News- Keisha Gustave, the grieving mother of seven-year-old Jeremiah Gustave, who succumbed to a gunshot wound on Saturday evening, is calling for justice for her son and for the suspects involved in the matter to face the full blunt of the law.

After eight months of battling for his life, Jeremiah passed away around 18:30 hrs. at their home in Charles Street, Charlestown, Georgetown. Jeremiah was shot in the head on July 9, 2024, in front of his home. Keisha, devastated by the pain her son endured, is pleading for justice stating that her son’s life was taken away by stray bullets fired by two men who didn’t care who was around when they fired those shots.

Reports indicate that Jeremiah, a student at Smith’s Memorial Primary School, was sitting at his mother’s food stall when an altercation escalated, resulting in the shooting. He was quickly transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where he underwent multiple surgeries. Since his discharge, Jeremiah has been in and out of the hospital showing slow signs of recovery. The main suspect in the case, Odel Garnette, also known as “Crab,” is currently in prison on remand as a court trial in the matter continues.

He was arrested in July and charged with attempted murder. Another suspect, Marlon Marcus, commonly known as “Mice Man,” was also initially charged, but his case was withdrawn in October by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Marcus had confessed to shooting Jeremiah during interrogation. In an interview with Kaieteur News on Sunday, Keisha said, “They have to face some penalty because my son ain’t live no life, my son ain’t went in nobody way. What can they come and tell me? I don’t even know how to process this thing.”

Keisha expressed her dissatisfaction with the legal outcome in Marcus’ case and her frustration with the process. “They (legal authorities) have to do something about it. Y’all (DPP) withdrew this matter when my son was alive, now my son passed away, y’all can’t come and tell me y’all ain’t get no evidence,” Keisha stated. “I ain’t want to hear nobody come and tell me ‘sorry.’ I don’t want to hear nothing. Sorry can’t bring back my son, and they have to feel the squeeze. I don’t want nobody (family members of the suspects) bringing no money and giving me,” she added, her voice filled with grief.

Hearing the news of Jeremiahs’ death

Keisha recalled the heartbreaking moment when she received the news of Jeremiah’s death. She said that her birthday had passed last Sunday, and she was preparing to go on an outing. However, when she left the house to prepare for the evening, Jeremiah’s father called her, stating that her son was not breathing. “I see he father calling me, saying that jerry ain’t breathing, he deh at the hospital. Two minutes after he call me back and tell me that Jerry passed away,” Keisha stated.

She reflected on her last conversation with her son, stating that loved and cared for him. “Friday night, I went to church, and before I left during the day, I told him, ‘I love you, and I will look after you and try to do everything for you and buy anything for you,’” Keisha said, holding back tears.

 

Jeremiahs’ deteriorating health

Keisha also shared that Jeremiah had recently faced health issues, causing him to be briefly admitted to the GPHC. She recalled that around March 22, 2025, she noticed that his stomach and hands were swollen. He also looked uncomfortable and seemed the same way the following day. They began to check the area where Jeremiah was feeding from and noticed green fluids coming out his body. “The part where you feeding him from, the father opened and he saw green water coming out from him looking like green seasoning,” she explained.

Jeremiah was rushed to the hospital where he underwent tests and an ultrasound. “When we reached the hospital, more of the green water came out—about 600 ml—and they started running tests. They said it was dengue, but they still discharged him,” she said. However, Keisha expressed concern that the doctors might not have revealed the full extent of his condition. “If they did a blood test and an ultrasound, they should have seen everything that was happening to him, but they just said he had dengue,” she said.

Keisha’s faith in Jeremiah’s recovery

Shocked by her son’s outcome, Keisha stated that she was hopeful in Jeremiah’s slow but steady recovery and had faith that he would return to the energetic, jovial person she once knew. “To be honest, I had the faith that Jerry would come through this and he’d be back to how he was. I never thought anything negative about this. I always prayed for the best for him. But right now, I’m asking God to give me the strength to get through this,” she said.

At present, Jeremiah’s body is at the GPHC mortuary, awaiting a post-mortem examination, which is scheduled to take place between Tuesday and Wednesday.

(“Right now I’m asking God to give me the strength to get through this”)

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