I want to bury my son with his head – mother
Published:Wednesday | December 9, 2020 | 12:15 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
It has been almost two months since the presumed beheading of 32-year-old Mark Wellington, and his mother, Shawn Henry, is hoping that a DNA test done last week will give the family closure so that they can begin preparations for a funeral.
The headless corpses of Wellington and 17-year-old Leonardo ‘Platty’ Hendricks were found at Plum Lane, in the vicinity of Whitehall Avenue, on October 16.
Hendricks’ head was reportedly found, but what is assumed to be Wellington’s remains missing.
“Mi woulda like bury mi child wid him head, but if mi can’t find it, weh mi a guh do?” Henry told The Gleaner on Monday in ‘Rome’, off Maxfield Avenue, where she lives.
Wellington, who was affectionately called ‘Blacky’ or ‘Mario’, is survived by two children – a son and a daughter. Henry’s granddaughter has been sent away for fear of reprisal attacks.
The year 2020 has brought nothing but nightmares for the distressed mother, who works two jobs. In the space of 12 months, her house was firebombed, and she lost a cousin, a nephew, and now a son to murder.
Henry said the turmoil is taking a psychological toll on her family as they await the results of the DNA test.
Investigators believe the men were killed in connection with ongoing gang violence in a section of Maxfield Avenue called Rome. Sleuths theorise that they were lured to the Whitehall Avenue area, where they met their demise.
The Major Investigation Division – is probing the double killing.
DEAF TO WARNINGS
The distraught mom admitted that Wellington had got into trouble with the law and had been charged for murder, spending two years in a police lock-up. His involvement in the criminal underworld drew sharp rebuke, but Wellington did not heed her warning, said Henry.
Wellington was Henry’s firstborn and has been labelled a don, or strongman, in the community. But she denied that he was that influential.
“When mi find out what him inna, mi talk to him night and day and beg him. Mi bawl and tell him whatever him want, him will get it,” she said.
“... You can’t be don and yuh mother still a support yuh. Him done three account fi mi – for the murder him go jail for, lawyer fee, food in deh, and ‘bailer man’.”
Kenneth Deidrick disclosed, too, that Hendricks, the other beheaded man, had been plagued by trouble all his life. Deidrick last saw his grandson on the day he died.
Hendricks’ family is thankful, however, that they have found his head and are preparing for his burial shortly. Deidricks’ daughter identified the body.
“[My daughter] don’t even want talk to anybody. Not even me nuh talk to her ‘bout it.”