IT is now approaching two months since a gunman shot dead 25-year-old David Mardner at his shop on 75 Lane, off Waltham Park Road in St Andrew.

His mother is fuming as, according to her, no autopsy has been conducted on her son due to a backlog of cases — murder, road deaths and others — which the five pathologists hired by the Government have had to be tending to.

The delay has also left Mardner’s relatives frustrated and angry as they are unable to lay him to rest.

Based on police statistics, 1,139 murders were recorded for all of 2024. As it relates to deaths from motor vehicle crashes, there were 364 for the entire 2024. From January 1 to January 18 this year, Jamaica recorded 43 murders. There were 21 road deaths this year between January 1 and 6:00 am on Tuesday, January 21. These statistics underscore the family’s concern that the system is heavily burdened.

“I am angry because I feel it is time now for me to get closure and bury him. They say I have to wait in line. I went down to Tranquility Funeral Home and they said to me that a private autopsy is not available for him because that is only for people who get sick and die. When it is a gunshot case, it has to be done by Government,” the slain man’s mother, Marcia Mardner, told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday.

Her concern has also been heightened by the fact that violence which erupted following her son’s murder is still ongoing, causing increased tension in the area. Just last week on the nearby 77 Lane, gunmen attacked residents despite a curfew in the area. No one was killed during that incident.

“Right now, I am in fear. Last Monday some men shot up 77 Lane. I want to leave the community because you don’t know who to trust, but I don’t know where to go. I have never, ever disrespected a man, a woman, a little boy or baby inside here. I don’t know where all this war came from. The only time I knew war in this place was in the 1980 elections between the supporters of the People’s National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party. I don’t know what is going on now. All I know is that my son should not have been killed in this,” she said.

On November 26 last year, the day her son was killed, five other people were shot dead on nearby Ayrshire Avenue, less than 300 metres north of the Waltham Park Road entrance of 75 Lane. That multiple-victim incident, which was said to be a reprisal for Mardner’s killing, triggered a visit to the area by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang, and Commissioner of Police Dr Kevin Blake.

The men visited the Mardner family to express condolence.

The mother appealed to Holness to offer the family some assistance towards the funeral when that time comes.

A sister of the slain man, who gave her name as Theresa, also made an appeal for assistance from the prime minister towards the funeral expenses, and called on him to see what can be done to expedite the autopsy.

“We need some help. We thought that when the PM came we were going to get some help. I don’t feel good inside. David was my baby brother — I am nine years older than him. I am just putting out the best but inside I am dying. I would really want his body so we can bury him,” she said.

“I saw him in my dreams last week. In the dream, mommy and I went to the autopsy session and when we walked into the room, he was sitting down and said he has been waiting on us to come for a long time. Every day we call the police lady about it and she says she has no control over it,” Theresa said.

She also said the heightened tension in the area makes her feel very afraid.

“Sometimes when I hear the gunshots, I start to shake and get diarrhoea and my head hurts me. It doesn’t feel good,” she said.