Fund-raising walk for Mario Deane today

Adrian Frater

News Editor

Western Bureau - The family of Mario Deane, the St. James construction worker who died on Independence Day from injuries sustained while he was custody at the Barnett Street Police Station, in Montego Bay, will be staging a 'fun-raising charity walk' in downtown Montego Bay this morning.

"We are not rich...I am a student and my mother is a humble dressmaker...what has happened to my brother has taken a big financial toll on my family," said Sadiki Deane, the sister of the deceased man. "Even if we only get the support of 50 people, we are committed to staging this walk."

The family is asking each participant in the 'charity walk' to contribute $500. The 'charity walk' is one of two fund-raising events to be staged as The Friends of Mario Deane are also planning a concert to help generate funding.

With the state not yet accepting responsibility for her son's death, Mercia Frazier, the mother of Mario Deane, earlier this week rejected an offer from government to assist with the funeral.

Deane (Mario) was arrested on the morning of Sunday, August 3, for a ganja spliff. He was taken in custody at the Barnett Street Police Station. Less than six hours later, he was admitted to the Cornwall Regional Hospital in an unconscious state, suffering from massive head injuries. He died three days later.

"All I can hear in my head is Mario telling me, 'mama...I am at the Barnett Street Police Station," said Frazer, recalling the telephone call she got from her son shortly after he was arrested. "My push for justice is not only about Mario because he is gone (dead)...what I don't want is to see another mother suffer the way I am suffering."

The deceased man, the first child for both of his parents, will be buried in the Frazer's family plot in Hanover on Sunday, September 21, following a funeral at the Mt. Salem Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church in St. James.

And while the family is fine-tuning funeral arrangements, their legal team, which is headed by attorney-at-law Miguel Lorne, is waiting to see what action INDECOM will take arising from the evidence garnered from the recent autopsy, which revealed the cause of death as massive head, brain and neck injuries.