MONTEGO BAY, St James — “Mommy killed my little baby sister” were the heartbreaking words that alerted 41-year-old Dweight Brown to the tragedy unfolding at his Barrett Hall residence on Wednesday evening.

Brown’s five-month-old infant Destiny was allegedly thrown from the roof of his two-storey dwelling by her 28-year-old mother. The baby died on Thursday at Cornwall Regional Hospital where she was receiving medical treatment for the injuries sustained during the fall.

Brown, a truck driver and tour operator in St James, told the Jamaica Observer that the tragic incident stemmed from a dispute between his mother and his partner. According to the businessman, the women had a disagreement while he was away in Portland for work. He told the Observer that this dispute also opened the floodgates for another argument between him and the accused woman; however, this time it was about infidelity.

“So she a say how mi have woman here and mi gone wid woman. Honest to God, mi never gone wid no woman. The time is slow and mi drive a truck, so mi glad fi the likkle work,” said Brown on Friday.

“Mi come home now and she start antagonise me. Mi say, ‘Babes, I really don’t want to talk about this now. I am tired.’ So mi lie down in the bed,” the man added.

This was when the unfortunate situation unfolded. The woman allegedly exited the room and took the infant to the roof of the house where she threw her off. Her actions were reportedly witnessed by Brown’s eight-year-old stepdaughter who alerted both him and his mother.

The child’s frightened screams were heightened as her mother reportedly tried to also get hold of her, Brown said. Equally surprised and confused, Brown said he ran outside to pick up baby Destiny and while looking back at the house, he saw the mother of his child preparing to leap from the building.

“So mi go out there and see the mucus a come through the baby’s nose and mouth. By the time…mi look up, mi see she and mi say, ‘Why you haffi do this?’ And she say, ‘You nuh lef?’ So mi say, ‘how [mi] lef and you still here?’ Mi say, ‘Babes, I love you’ because at this point she wah jump off now. So I said to her, ‘Babes, don’t jump. I love you. Don’t do this, yow’,” Brown recounted of the devastating day.

He said that the woman jumped from the building and landed on a scaffolding. In his attempt to help the mother of his child, Brown told reporters that he placed the baby back on the ground and caught her during her fall.

However, Brown said that this was not the end of her attempt to take her life. He said that the woman’s eight-year-old daughter had become hysterical and tried to run for cover.

Brown believed that the woman would have tried to harm the child so he called for additional help.

“Mi put down the baby and start calling for help because mi nuh want she kill the eight-year-old,” he said.

“I was so weak. I alone couldn’t deal with her because it’s [like] she had some force with her,” Brown added.

The man reported that his distressed partner also drank bleach in her attempts to take her life and when he removed the bottle with the substance from her person, the woman allegedly tried to use a knife to inflict wounds to her torso.

“I don’t know if she got any stabs but she jammed herself. Then she took the knife to try cut her neck and mi start bawl out,” Brown told the Observer.

As he stood reflecting on Wednesday’s incidents, Brown said that he still remains in a state of disbelief. The father of four said that he believes his partner’s actions were done out of spite as he adored baby Destiny.

“I cya sleep. I cya come to the terms that a mother would really do this to their flesh and blood,” said the man as he fought back tears.

He continued: “It keeps rehearsing in my head, what could I have done to save this baby? Mi a try go back in the memories to see what I could have done to save this child. I don’t even have a place here. That’s how I feel. My baby normally sleeps beside me every night.”

When asked if there were signs of trouble before this incident, Brown said that their relationship was fairly new. He explained that he met the woman, who would become the mother of his child, a little over a year ago.

“I don’t know the history of her. It is just one year since I was talking to her. I met her at the gas station and I rented a place for her, [but] she never go there and stay,” he said.

Brown said that, as a couple, they learned they were expecting a child early in the relationship, so he stepped up to offer her all the support that he could.

“It’s not like I was not playing a fatherly figure or [giving] support. She had everything that she desired. It is not like she a go hungry; I am a businessperson. I gave her support in every form,” he said.

As he grapples with the reality of the death of his child at the hands of his partner, Brown said that the woman’s eight-year-old daughter is also struggling to understand what took place on Wednesday afternoon.

“I think she has to have some serious intervention – some counselling – to go over that and…it is going to be a long-term thing because it is terrible,” said Brown.