‘God has my back’: Hours later, mother of six shot dead and dumped in bushes

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The body is removed from the scene in the Nassau Village area. Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune staff

By LEANDRA ROLLE

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE husband of the woman fatally shot in Nassau Village on Saturday said hours before his wife was brutally murdered, he had a “funny feeling” that something bad would happen.

“Friday evening was the last time I saw her. The last words I said was ‘honey, don’t go because I have a feeling something bad gonna happen.’ It was just on my mind and she said ‘don’t worry, God has my back’ and she left (with friends) but I can’t force her,” Philip Lockhart, Sr, said in an interview with The Tribune yesterday.

It was several hours later, he said, when a neighbour came and told him that his wife Cleo, a mother-of-six, had been killed. “A neighbour came and alerted me about my wife. I thought it was a prank first and then when I went there, they showed me her body in the bush. I mean they shoot her and put her in the bush like a dirty dog.”

According to reports, shortly after 7am on Saturday, a man was walking on a track road between Lewis Street and Hope Gardens when he discovered a woman’s body and later alerted police officers to the scene. “Paramedics were called to the scene and attempted to revive the victim but were unsuccessful. She was pronounced dead at the scene,” police said in a statement.

Superintendent Shanta Knowles told reporters on Saturday that police received reports of gunshots in the area some five hours earlier, but didn’t find anything or anyone.

Speaking to The Tribune yesterday, Mr Lockhart, said her relatives are completely distraught over her murder.

“We have five boys and one girl, a one-year old daughter. The oldest is 19. One of the boys is autistic. They’re taking it hard, especially the oldest one because he lost his father and then three days later, he lost his uncle,” he said.

“He can’t even go to work. But, I is a warrior so we gone push through (sic).”

Married to her for 18 years, Mr Lockhart said his wife was a kind-hearted woman.

“She was moody and nice, but sometimes strict. But, one thing is she would give you the last what she have… Last month would make us 18 years. Our anniversary was last month, November 15,” he said.

Meanwhile, Daphne Major, Ms Lockhart’s sister, added: “She was a sweet, awesome person; a loving mother, you know kindhearted and funny and witty. She was a beautiful person inside and out. That was my little t’ing, that was my girl… For years, she’s been (a resident of the Nassau Village community.) She was a well-known person through the streets.”

Ms Lockhart’s death has pushed the country’s murder to 95 for the year, according to The Tribune’s records.

According to police, investigations are continuing.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Central Detective Unit at 502-9991/2 or the Crime Stoppers hotline at 328-TIPS (8477).