(Jamaica Star) A 38-year-old farmer from Bethel Town, Westmoreland, said that he was beaten and thrown off a bus on Monday, after he sneezed multiple times and was accused of carrying the deadly COVID-19.
Garnet Blair told THE STAR that his body is swollen and sore all over, from the sound thrashing he got from the angry mob.
“Mi caa believe seh nobody caa sneeze inna Jamaica again,” Blair said in a trembling voice.
He said that after carrying goods to the Charles Gordon Market in Montego Bay, he took a mini bus back home.
“The bus reach a Chester Castle when mi kinda feel stuffy. So mi sneeze, an all of a sudden mi see every body start look pon mi, and a pull weh from beside mi,” he said.
Blair said that he told them that he had always been troubled by sinus problems, but after he sneezed twice more soon after, hell broke loose.
‘PURE LICK’
“Before mi could open mi mouth, a pure lick start reach mi. Woman a beat mi, an man a beat mi. Mi affi use mi hands fi cover mi eyes so dem nu juck dem out. All dem a seh a ‘hey boy come off the bus wid yuh coronavirus self’,” Blair said. “A wen the driva see seh dem go fi kill mi, him pull pon the road side an stop, an den him holla pon dem an tell dem fi lef mi alone. All the driva a tell the passenga dem seh him know mi an a so mi always a sneeze, dem seh dem nah travel wid mi, an mi fi come off a di bus.”
He said that he was pushed from the bus and had to walk more than 10 miles to his home.
He said that he bathed himself in warm water, and is vowing that he will not travel again until the COVID-19 threat was over.
