‘Gregory was more than a father’
Common-law wife shaken after contractor falls from roof, dies
Published:Monday | January 16, 2023 | 1:09 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A grief-stricken Sandrene Lewis is trying to come to grips with the tragic death of her common-law-husband, Gregory Jones, who fell from a roof to his death while working on a construction site last Friday.
Jones, a 43-year-old contractor who was affectionately called ‘Cappo’, was of a Petersville address in Whitehouse, Westmoreland.
Last Friday, he was reportedly working on the roof of a studio complex at the Whitehouse Beach Club in his community when he lost his balance and fell to the ground, where he was impaled by a piece of steel in his mid-torso.
His death has left dozens of people, including Lewis and his three children, traumatised.
“Gregory was a jovial person, a loving person, caring, ‘jokefied’, hard working,” Lewis told The Gleaner.
The broken-hearted woman said Jones was more than a father to his three children, including her 13-year-old daughter, Akaila Bishop.
“Him is more than a babyfather to mi. A don’t know how I’m going to cope, but mi affi do it because without mi, dem (children) not going to have nobody close to dem. If dem lose mother and father, [it’s] not going to be nice. Dem have to have somebody to uplift them,” Lewis stated.
Moreland Development Company Limited issued a release on the weekend expressing sadness over Jones’ death. It said he was employed by one of their subcontractors.
“Mr Jones’ passing resulted from an accident that occurred while he was carrying out his general construction work at a construction site in Whitehouse, Westmoreland,” the release stated.
Moorland Development said that its safety policies mandate that there is a vehicle designated for safety and security on all sites and that the vehicle was immediately mobilised after the accident to transport Jones to the Black River Hospital, where he died while being treated.