A shocking act of betrayal has left a family to pick up the pieces after a distant relative, who had been taken in and provided for, allegedly set fire to their home in St Andrew on Monday, September 16, 2024.

Though no lives were lost in the blaze the family of four, including a four-year-old boy who had just returned to school in September, are now left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer last Wednesday, 31-year-old Terrell Turner shared that he took the family member into his house to offer a helping hand.

“This is just me trying to help somebody get back on their feet,” he said.

Noting that his wife’s stepfather is the actual owner of the house, Turner said his father-in-law does not usually permit them to take others in but had started bonding with the relative.

“For the time span that he was here, I think he was building a relationship with him. They were good with each other. The elder started saying, ‘Ah good youth, man; him alright’ and me seh, ‘Yeah, mi know him as a good youth,’ ” Turner shared.

But what was intended to be a good deed quickly went up in flames, starting with the relative walking off his job.

“When he just came, he had a little work in Sherlock. However, in like three weeks, four weeks he quit the job, then he was here on the hunt same way, seh him want a job,” Turner told the Observer.

He said he assisted the distant cousin with a one-off construction job to put up dry wall in an establishment, for which he was paid some of the money upfront on Wednesday, September 11.

“I never see him do it before but that’s the job he used to do. We carry him go do it and him put it up, however, the job never finish… On the first day going there, we paid him,” Turner shared, adding that the following day the relative made no effort to finish the job.

But things quickly changed for Turner on Thursday night, September 12, when he was alerted to his relative having what appeared to be an emotional breakdown in the house.

“My wife came to say he was outside bawling that he was going to kill his parents, and she was saying I should talk to him because probably I understand him — but mi nuh understand that side of him,” Turner related.

“I went to him and asked what was the problem, ‘Why do you want to kill your parents?’ and he said they betrayed him and he can’t believe it. He had his phone like he was talking to somebody on it and was saying, ‘Unno cyaa tell mi nothing,’ but there was nobody on the phone,” Turner shared.

He said the relative had another breakdown on Friday, September 13.

“I was trying to talk to him in the middle of the living room. I basically was trying to hold on to him because him start rile up and a gwaan the worst way, like him a lose breath and so. So I said, ‘Let me give him the chance to vent,’ and I went back to my room,” Turner told the Observer.

The situation worsened on Sunday, September 15 when Turner’s wife received a call from her father — who was admitted at Kingston Public Hospital on September 13 for back pains — asking about the deteriorating situation with the relative. At that point, Turner went to check on the relative once more.

“I went out there and he was sitting and cutting up something on a brown paper on the ground. He was moving fast and sweating and I said, ‘Maro, what happen to you?’ He got up fast and look at me, and mi dress back,” Turner recounted.

“He said, ‘You ever betray me?’ and I said ‘Betray you fi wah?’ He said ‘Bredda, my family betray me; ah tru you nuh know. Mi love you, ennu youth’ and I’m like, ‘Maro, mi legit nuh know wah you ah talk bout. You ah talk to me in parables,’ ” Turner related.

“In my head I’m saying it couldn’t be money because he didn’t finish the work yet, and I only owed him $9,000. But he started to cuss and say him hungry, and nobody nuh care for him, and I said, ‘This is going too far now,’ ” Turner said, adding that he started growing concerned for the safety of his family.

Following a discussion with his wife, Turner decided to pay the relative the excess $9,000 for the job he had not completed and then told him he had to leave on Monday, September 16.

“I said, ‘Maro, you have to try go home and get yourself fixed up. Sort out yourself,’ ” Turner said.

But on the Monday, Turner said he saw his relative with “the same brown paper, and he started sniffing a lot of things in his nose and him ah move a way and start bite up sinkle bible [aloe vera]. Same time I see him a rush come back to the house so I run come out and ask him ‘What happen to you?’ and he said, ‘Weh mi knife deh?’ and him ah move busy. I said, ‘No Maro, you have to go home for true, man. Mi cyaa afford you ah move dem way deh inna the house,’ ” Turner related.

He said that after placing his cousin’s packed bags on the porch and locking up his house, he left for work, later checking that his cousin had left the property.

Less than an hour later, he received a call that the house was on fire.

“Every single thing bun up — everything for my wife bun up, everything for my son bun up, everything for me bun up. From furniture, to clothes, to pot, to plate — every single thing,” Turner lamented.

The incident has taken a toll on the family who are now struggling to get back on their feet. Turner, who was about to restart his retail business, said he lost his entire inventory, which was being stored at his home.

“The amount of shoes and pants, woman pants, man pants weh bun up for me and sneakers — 153 pair of Jordan’s that. Dem ah original Jordan, one of dem ah fi like $23,000. How much in Clarks and other sneakers — Nike, Reebok — dem nuh check off yet but I have ah rough check on them. All of them things the man just catch and bun up,” Turner lamented, adding that his cousin was wearing his clothes when the police arrested him.

“When the police dem catch him, the man have on one of my pants dem from out of my room. Why you woulda put on my clothes? How you reach inna mi clothes?” he asked.

The family said they lost close to $80,000 recently spent on clothes for their son.

“September I got the clothes, shoes, everything for my son,” Turner’s wife Synovia told the Observer.

Recounting the moment when she was alerted to the fire, Synovia said, “First thing when my cousin call me, I said ‘Where is my son?’ because that was my main concern. Then I just said, ‘I can’t believe Maro do this,’ because I know it was him. Mi know ah nuh nobody else.”

She continued, “I just say ‘God, I guess this is rebuilding season; we have to rebuild again,’ ” Synovia added.

Her husband admitted that he is now filled with regret.

“I blame myself for bringing this man into our space, but I don’t want to put that on myself so mi just a try fi stay strong,” he said.

Last week, police confirmed that the relative is still under police guard in hospital.

In the meantime, the family is calling for assistance to rebuild. Donations can be made through their GoFundMe page or to Synovia Barrington via the National Commercial Bank Portmore Branch, account number 364664877.

The destroyed kitchen of Terrell Turner’s house (Photos: Gavin Jones)

Charred remains of a section of Terrell Turner’s house (Photos: Gavin Jones)

This burnt collection of shoes was being stored at Turner’s home in anticipation of the reopening of his clothing retail business. (Photos: Gavin Jones)

A section of Terrell Turner’s torched house (Photos: Gavin Jones)

Terrell Turner is a picture of pain as he walks through his now burnt-out home. (Photos: Gavin Jones)