RELATIVES, friends and colleagues of late veteran journalist Barbara Gayle packed the pews of Kencot Seventh-day Adventist Church in St Andrew yesterday to pay last respects to the woman who was described by her friend of nearly 50 years, Wyvolyn Gager, as having “golden blood”.

Gayle was found murdered at her house in the gated community of Caymanas Country Club Estate, Phase One, in St Catherine on December 16, 2024.

“Recently, I had a conversation with my eight-year-old granddaughter Gabrielle, who wanted to discuss blood types. She asked me whether I knew about golden blood — the rarest type of blood found in few persons in the world, mostly in Asia. I confessed that I had not.

“This golden blood, she explained to me, was very valuable to medical science. I didn’t know Barbara’s blood type, but I feel strongly that she had golden blood coursing through her veins, emanating from her beautiful heart, for she was, indeed, the definition of one with a golden heart,” Gager, a former editor-in-chief at the The Gleaner, said during the thanksgiving service for Gayle’s life on Sunday.

Gager went on to share a story of a selfless, helpful, loving, and non-discriminatory Gayle.

“Back in the 80s when fear, ignorance and stigma defined the HIV epidemic, Barbara had this young man doing odd jobs around her home. He was HIV-positive. One day I pulled her aside and asked her why she had that boy in her house. She said he is ill, is a victim, and he needs help and love. I hugged her and told her she was a better woman than me. It was, for me, a teachable moment.

“Barbara assisted and nurtured that young man until he eventually passed away. Many of us see through people and never truly see them, but not Barbara Gayle. How could brutality of such proportion descend on someone like her, a woman half my size, attacked in her home and showed no mercy? She was a woman with a golden heart who gave more than she took, and mended more than she broke.

“There are so many broken hearts in our beautiful country. Jamaica needs to be made whole again. We need an urgent reset,” Gager said to resounding applause from mourners.

For more than five decades Gayle reported matters from the island’s courts — some of them the most gruesome murders. The retired journalist became a victim of murder herself, plunging the nation into shock at what was described as a senseless and brutal act.

Prosecutors indicated in court last month that they will be seeking the death penalty for Travis Ellis, the man charged with the murder of Gayle.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn, King’s Counsel (KC), yesterday delivered a riveting tribute to Gayle at the thanksgiving service for her life.

“I first met Barbara Gayle — the grande dame of court reporting — at that time over 35 years ago when I commenced my career at the Office of the DPP as a very young and much slimmer Crown counsel. As I grew to know her I began to realise that, though diminutive in size, she was a powerhouse as a talented journalist, especially in court reporting. She was fair and detailed, but I also realised that her joy of living was grounded in the Lord.

“Barbara was possessed of the keen intellectual acuity; she was very discerning, she had superior skills of critical analysis, observation and listening, and she had a high emotional intelligence which she used to great effect in gaining the trust of so many of us in the justice system.

“She knew the human condition and, with her unobtrusive style and kind spirit, she became a positive mentor not only to colleague journalists, but also young attorneys at the public and private bar, law enforcement personnel, and court staff,” the DPP said. “We all benefited from her constructive criticism, encouragement and commendation.

“I was able to observe Barbara’s taking on the mentoring of so many of her younger colleagues. Sometimes, after she had covered a case I prosecuted, and the stress was high, we would sit for 15 minutes and Barbara, who was very witty and had a great sense of humour, had all of us laughing,” Llewellyn added.

She told mourners that Gayle was one of three great encouragers in her life.

“If you couldn’t take teasing, don’t go around Barbara. My mother always told me that, as a young woman coming up, you should always have a very mature woman as a good friend. I was fortunate. I had three great encouragers-in-chief throughout my entire career up to my mother’s passing. I had my mother, Mavis Llewellyn; I had my great mentor and friend Justice Marva McIntosh; and I had Barbara Gayle. I was really privileged also to be on her list of persons who would benefit from her scriptural readings, sayings, and hymns on both my phones on WhatsApp every morning. In fact, even after I heard of her passing, I don’t know if it happened to some of you, I would check her WhatsApp page and it was then that it became real that Barbara was no longer in the living.

“Barbara liked to adopt the underdog. That was always part of her Christian charity, and I would always believe that when I was younger, fiery, feisty, flamboyant, strongly independent-minded as a prosecutor operating in an arena of the patriarchy. She knew that as I progressed in my career that I would meet a lot of challenges and a lot of headwinds and she would always make herself available to just offer that quiet encouragement with the occasional scripture to encourage, and I always made her know how much I appreciated,” Llewellyn shared.

For the first few days after Gayle was murdered, her son Neil Josephs said that he was angry. However, when thoughts of how his mother dealt with grief came rushing to him, he began to take a different approach to her death.

“If everybody here knows my mother, she always has a very upbeat spirit, always has good energy, mustering, and running a lot of jokes and stuff. I have never really seen my mother angry. When I just came to Jamaica after her death and went to the community where she is from, I realised everybody’s spirit was down. Some people told me that they don’t go running in the morning anymore and that their spirit was down. I told them to remember who my mother was. She would be the first person to tell you to keep going and run in the mornings, and do everything that you usually do.

“I noticed that energy from when my sister passed in 2023. She and my sister were so close. My sister was fighting an illness. I used to hope that my sister didn’t die before my mother because they were very, very close. When my sister passed and I saw how my mother dealt with the whole situation, that was where I gained the strength and energy to let everybody know that my mother would want everybody to move on and still live their everyday life,” he said. “When my sister passed, I never saw her down, not even one time.

“The first few days after she passed I was very angry, and then I remembered who she was. She spoke to me in my head and she said, ‘Neil, you have to move past it and you have to continue living your life.’ That’s the message, and everybody I spoke to I gave them that message. That was who Barbara Gayle was,” Josephs said, while expressing gratitude to Gager and his mother’s close colleagues and friends, Gareth Manning and Leroy Morris.

He also thanked everyone who helped in the investigation of his mother’s murder and the people who provided emotional support and words of comfort.

“These people are like a blessing to my family. They did most of the work. They helped out a lot. I must acknowledge and thank everybody here in person, and whoever is online, for your presence. I am grateful to those who were unable to be a part of the proceedings today, but they still reached out and extended their condolences to my family and I.

“I say special thanks to the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the many concerned citizens of Jamaica for their support and efforts which have resulted in the apprehension of the suspect in my mother’s case. I have to be very grateful for that, before I say anything else. When my mother died, it showed me that unity is still in Jamaica, because everybody was a part of finding this person. I really appreciate that,” he expressed.

Josephs reminisced on how much of a profound impact his mother had on the people with whom she came into contact.

“She was a kind and loving person who always found a way to find the bright side in any dark situation. She touched the lives of so many people I did not even know until she passed. On the second day [after] her passing I literally had to put my phone on silent because there were so many people calling me from all over the world telling me how much she had done for them. She was very connected, but I wouldn’t have known because she was so humble.

“Anybody who really knows my mother would tell you that she loved to make jokes and play her regular pranks. The only time I can remember my mother being serious was during prayer worship or when she was working. She loved God, her plants, and reporting on the judicial system.

“My mother loved everyone… She loved and spoke highly of many judges, lawyers and especially her fellow journalists. Although she had retired, she would still find time to write articles and mentor younger journalists. My sisters and I would joke all the time saying we were convinced that she loved her journalist colleagues more than us. She was always there for them. If we were having a conversation, she would not hesitate to cut us off to be of service them. Many times we would have important business to take care of and, even if we were running a little late, she would oftentimes tell us to have a seat and wait because she was helping one of her beloved colleagues finish a story.

“The mother I knew was always willing to put her business aside to assist others,” Josephs said, sharing that the plan now is to start a scholarship in her name, as a way to ensure her legacy lives on.

“Above all, I would love to have her name and legacy live on, especially given the many children I know she helped with schooling. Oftentimes, she would call requesting that I bring a phone so that it could help online schooling for a child. I found it amusing many times, hearing her telling them, ‘Tell him what phone you want nuh. Him cool man, nuh worry ‘bout it.’ She didn’t even know if I could afford it; that’s just who she was,” he said. “Once she is going to help, she is going to get it done.

“In remembrance of my mother, my sister and I will be maintaining a scholarship in her name to continue helping students as much as possible. A portion of the offering collected from today’s service will go towards supporting this scholarship and anyone who is willing to help and be a part of this programme can reach out to my sister and I, and see how you can help,“ he added.

On January 10, Gayle’s alleged killer, Ellis, made his first appearance before a judge in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston. The prosecution indicated that its file is incomplete as it is awaiting documents crucial to the case. Ellis is to return to court on May 26.

His case was initially scheduled to be called up in the St Catherine Parish Court but was transferred to the Home Circuit Court in Kingston on a voluntary bill of indictment.

He has been indicted on two counts of robbery with aggravation and murder. He has allegedly confessed to the murder.

Gayle was stabbed multiple times and her head bashed in by her killer. Her Mercedes Benz motor vehicle and cellphone were taken.

Hours after news broke about Gayle’s killing, Ellis was allegedly seen driving her motor vehicle in the community of Gulf in Portmore, St Catherine. He reportedly gave conflicting stories about how he acquired the vehicle and was beaten and chased from the community by residents.

On December 18, after an intense manhunt for Gayle’s killer, cops found her motor vehicle abandoned in a heavily forested area of Dyke Road in Portmore. Hours later, Ellis was caught hiding in bushes nearby. He was arrested and charged.