ALEXANDRIA, St Ann — Saskia Francis has become all too familiar with grieving after the death of a loved one, having lost her unborn child and her boyfriend within a six-month period.

In April, four months into her pregnancy, Francis had a miscarriage. Then her boyfriend, 23-year-old Ranoldo ”Lucas” Bantin, died a week ago. The police suspect that he drowned.

“Why me alone must go through so much?” 33-year-old Francis questioned.

“First mi baby and then Lucas. Mi nuh know how mi a manage. Now when mi look back on everything me a say if mi never lose the baby I would have her to look at, so she could remind me of him; something to hold onto and say yes mi still have him around mi same way,” added Francis.

According to police reports, about 1:40 pm on October 25, Bantin went swimming in the Arthur Seat River in Douglas Castle, Clarendon, when he got into difficulties. The police were summoned and a search was launched. His body was found the following day in a section of the river.

For Francis, there are so many ‘what ifs’. What if Bantin had not taken a job, offered by a relative, which took him to Douglas Castle? She said she tried to convince him not to venture out but he was adamant that he needed to be able to provide for his household.

“Him say him have a cousin up there that has a restaurant and him a go up there and work with them. Mi even tell him that him shouldn’t leave and go that far, him should try and find a job somewhere closer or wait until something else come up,” Francis told the Jamaica Observer.

“Only if he had listened to me. Right now it hurt so much. Every time mi see him picture mi cry and from him dead mi don’t feel like myself,” added Francis.

The day before her boyfriend died, she said, she had a feeling that a loved one was in danger.

“Is like mi did know from the day before because mi did just weak and mi left eye did a jump and whenever that happen mi know that mi ago cry. Same time mi start pray and say, ‘God, please, anything that is about to happen please turn it around’,” said Francis.

Little did she know it was Bantin who was in danger. Their last conversation, she said, was a few hours before his death, via WhatsApp when he told her he missed her.

“Mi heart leap when me get the call say Lucas dead. Mi run off and scream out because mi couldn’t believe. That was the last thing mi did a expect fi hear,” she shared. “When mi go Clarendon and see them take him out of the water mi start vomit. Mi never know meself. I was praying it wasn’t him.”

Though Bantin was younger than her, Francis said the love he showed her was unmatched.

“Mi nuh really think I will ever find someone that I will love like him because of the way he loved me. He was young but, trust me, he was just in a category by himself. When I say loving, caring and he always look out for me with the little that he had and know how to keep me smiling all the time,” she told the Observer. “Him a ask mi from about January to marry him and mi a tell him to hold on because he was young and I don’t want him to think that he wanted marriage when he is not ready. But he was so serious that he even went to a pastor and asked her to ask me about it.”

“But see now that will never happen because he is gone. How Lucas fi gone lef mi after we had so much plans?” she questioned as tears rushed down her cheeks, “I don’t [know] when I will ever heal from this.”

Also mourning is 49-year-old Lloyd Bantin, Lucas’s father.

The two would often be seen cooking at events in Murray Mount, St Ann, where they are from.

“Lucas a did a good boy and everybody know he was always quiet and humble. Me and him never curse nor anything like that; we share the best relationship. Bwoy mi nuh know, but me a hold on strong right now because it nuh easy,” said the grief-stricken father.

— Akera Davis