Eyes welled with tears as McFarlane wept uncontrollably, referring continuously to her brother Ranford McFarlane, in the present tense, in denial of his death.

WESTERN BUREAU:

Still in shock and disbelief, the younger sister of one of the five men murdered in Flower Hill, St. James, Wednesday, pleaded with her dead brother to answer her persistent calls.

"Mi one big bredda dead. Him really gone?" 33-year-old Andrea McFarlane asked her cousin Shernette Clarke, who struggled in vain to comfort her, as Opposition Leader Bruce Golding led a tour of the community on Friday under the watchful eyes of a police contingent and other members of the Jamaica Labour Party.

Eyes welled with tears as McFarlane wept uncontrollably, referring continuously to her brother Ranford McFarlane, in the present tense, in denial of his death.

Sole breadwinner

The McFarlanes are the only children for their mother, but Ranford, a farmer, was the sole breadwinner. Crates of freshly reaped carrots lay in the yard, which were ready to be marketed had he lived.

"Oh God, mi bredda dead. Lord, Miss Ann (Shernette's pet name) a really him dem kill?" McFarlane, a sickle-cell patient, asked. "Me and him could sit down and reason about anything, any time. Him nuh do nobody nutten. Tell mi seh a nuh him dead. Mi deh call him phone but him nah answer. Mi go down a him farm and call him, but him still nah answer mi. How mi deh go manage. Mi can't live it out," she lamented with deafening screams.

Clarke sat with her on a bed. She stroked McFarlane's head repeatedly. "What man give over, God don't," Clarke said. Holding her brother's picture close to her chest, McFarlane called out to her brother. There was no answer and again she wailed bitterly.

Offer of assistance

In an attempt to offer immediate medical and psychological support for the affected relatives of the victims, Bruce Golding has instructed Member of Parliament for North West St. James, Dr. Horace Chang, to take steps to offer whatever assistance deemed necessary. But McFarlane said she would not go to see the doctor if her brother was not coming.

"I can see that Ms. McFarlane, in particular, is quite traumatised and needs immediate assistance. We are here to give them support because it is a very challenging and traumatic time for them," Golding said.

On Wednesday night, six men were at a shop in the Flower Hill community when they were pounced on by armed men who sprayed them with bullets. One was injured and five died on the spot.

They are Huan Cole, 32; Devroy Harris, 21, whose head was severed and left in front of the police station; Lloyd Ishmael, 51; Leston Morris, 32; and Ranford McFarlane.