(Jamaica Observer) The body of 16-year-old William Knibb Memorial High School grade 11 student Jonathan Eccleston was yesterday removed from a river here, a day after he fell into the water while fishing with friends.
Marvia Seivright, Eccleston’s distraught mother, was overcome with grief yesterday as spoke how she had warned him Thursday not to go to the river. The grieving woman, who sat in a car near the river where he son’s body was removed from, had to be supported by family members.
She said that before leaving home for work Tuesday, she gave her son spending money for a sports day he indicated he would be attending on Thursday, but said she later discovered that Jonathan went to the river instead.
Seivright said she was surprised when her mother informed her that she had warned Jonathan after she realised he had gone to the river on Tuesday. “I didn’t know he came here Tuesday because I gave him money to go to a sports day Thursday. I sat him down on Ash Wednesday and said, ‘Jonathan, you have the potential to reach places, just listen to me, do what you have to do in school and you can reach places’.”
The grieving woman said she was shocked when her daughter called her after 2:00 pm and informed her that Jonathan had gone to the river again, instead of the sports day he indicated he would be attending.
Her worst fears were realised shortly after when her daughter turned up at her office crying.
“When I saw my daughter come to the office that I work she was crying, so I just sensed that something was wrong because I left her at home. Then the taxi man that took her there broke the news. But he said he was not sure,” she said.
The distressed mother said she had a premonition that she would receive some tragic news and told a co-worker while in the lunch room after she felt a twitching in her right hand, Thursday afternoon.
“I felt my right hand start jumping and I told my co-worker in the lunch room I am going to get some bad news,” recounted Seiveright.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Christopher Bowen, on Thursday afternoon Jonathan and about seven other boys were at the river fishing when he fell off the stone he was sitting on into a section of the river, where the water is said to be very deep.
The police, military, and members of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, who had gone in search of the teenager, aborted their search for the body late Thursday evening due to poor visibility.
The body was removed from the river yesterday morning when the search restarted.
Seivright recalled that when Jonathan was younger he said he wanted to become a pastor but later on said he wanted a career in accounting when he left school.
“He was very loving and caring but he wasn’t listening. When he become a teenager he started getting stubborn,“ said Seivright.
She added: “The rest of the three children are broken; my daughter is not holding up well. The two boys are small and are not crying as much as their sister. I didn’t sleep last night or eat nothing since lunchtime Thursday.”
