‘We had so many dreams’
Widow reflects on losing husband two years after getting married
Published:Sunday | December 18, 2022 | 12:44 AMEdmond Campbell and Tanesha Mundle - Staff Reporters
When Simone Jones walked her 46-year-old husband Leroy to the gate on the morning of July 17, 2020, she could not have thought that it was the last time she was seeing the man she loved and lived with for 14 years, sharing dreams that had not yet come true.
By the time Jones had said goodbye to her spouse and returned to the verandah, the stillness of the early morning was shattered by a barrage of gunshots.
The mother of three – two boys and a girl – recalled in a Sunday Gleaner interview on Friday that at the time, her youngest child, a daughter, was a little more than a year old.
Rattled by the sound of gunfire, Jones quickly dialled her husband’s number as a sense of dread overcame her. Anxious for a response, she called repeatedly, but the phone just rang.
Desperate for some news, Jones darted from her home and saw a police officer, who had just cordoned off the crime scene.
Devastating news
The cop was initially reluctant to divulge any information, but after Jones explained that her husband, who had just left home dressed in black, could not be reached by phone, he confirmed that the man she described was shot and had been taken to hospital.
The devastating news left Jones in despair.
“I started crying because my husband is not a troublemaker. We were new in the community, and I said we just moved here and we don’t know anyone. Who could have done something like this to him?” she recalled.
She told The Sunday Gleaner that it has been difficult trying to cope without her husband, who was a security guard stationed at the United States Embassy.
“It is not easy, not easy, because we had so many dreams, so much that we wanted to do together,” the widow said.
Jones described her husband as the main breadwinner, noting that her small salary could not do much for her family.
“When it happened I was a lost person. I am still in shock even to this day,” she added.
Although they had been together for 14 years, Jones said they had only just celebrated their second wedding anniversary when tragedy struck.
She recalled Leroy as a man of integrity and a disciplinarian.
“He goes by the book, very disciplined. You can’t ask him to do anything that is not right. Very strict, and the kids and his family know he is a no-nonsense person. Sometimes they say to him, he is too prim and proper because that is the type of person he was,” she reflected. “He was a very good husband and father – wash, cook, clean, anything just to make sure I am okay and the kids are okay, family is okay, that’s the person that he was.”
The pain being felt by Jones is still palpable, particularly when she recounted the love her husband had for his children.
She was his princess
“The kids would do stuff that Daddy would love and would have been excited about, especially the little one, for she is the only girl, let me tell you, she was a daddy’s girl. Yes, she was head over heels for Daddy and she was his princess, I can tell you,” Jones said.
Her eldest son is now in high school, while her second boy is at the primary level, and their daughter is now attending an early childhood institution.
Jones told The Sunday Gleaner that her daughter overheard her eldest brother speaking about her father’s demise and wanted to know why he was killed.
She said that despite the sentencing of Jerome ‘Bad Bwoy’ Pryce for the murder of her husband, she is still struggling to find closure.
Pryce pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced last year to life imprisonment. He is to serve 18 years in prison before parole considerations.
“I am just taking things one day at a time. I am trying to be a good example for the kids and make sure they are okay, give them love and affection and be here for them,” the widow said.
Leroy Jones’ killing was linked to what Jamaican investigators and their United States counterparts have called a revenge murder plot. Another security guard, Devon Smikle, who worked at the US Embassy, was killed in 2019. His killing is also allegedly tied to the murder plot.
Courtney Williams, an ex-security guard at the US Embassy, is believed to be the mastermind behind Jones’ killing.
Williams, who is currently in custody and is to return to the Home Circuit Court on January 24, next year, is alleged to have orchestrated the murder after he was fired from his job at the embassy over allegations of misconduct.