By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE families of two Bahamian men killed in a drug-related operation in Haiti in July will finally get to bury their loved ones after their bodies arrived in The Bahamas this week, bringing some closure to what relatives described as a frustrating and depressing ordeal that cost them thousands.

The bodies of Shadrack Stuart and Joey Russell had been held up in a Haitian morgue for months by bureaucratic delays and what relatives called a lack of official assistance.

They said a single missing signature from a Haitian doctor stalled the repatriation process, prompting repeated pleas to the government for help.

Austin Russell, Joey’s brother, confirmed yesterday that the family’s calls were finally answered after receiving notice earlier this month that his brother’s body would be returned.

He said the remains arrived in New Providence over the weekend, with the family planning a burial next month.

Meanwhile, Stuart’s wife confirmed that her husband’s body arrived yesterday.

The Abaco men were shot in Haiti in July during what officials there described as a drug-related operation.

While Stuart died at the scene, Joey succumbed to his injuries days later in hospital under what relatives say were suspicious circumstances. A third man, Rashad Fox, of Sandy Point, is also believed to be dead.

Mr Russell described the prolonged wait as frustrating and filled with many sleepless nights.

He added that social media chatter about the men’s deaths, along with circulating images of their bodies, offered no comfort and only deepened the family’s distress.

He believes the government only intervened after public backlash over its decision to fund accommodations for Bahamians who travelled to Jamaica for a wedding during Hurricane Melissa, among other controversies.

Mr Russell also cited the recent death of a 16-year-old Bahamian student in Panama and the government’s efforts to repatriate her body as encouraging factors.

“They were saying that they were going to bring them home and everybody was making noise about that and right after that, we got a phone call saying the bodies would be coming home the next week,” Mr Russell told The Tribune yesterday.

Still, he said the government could’ve acted faster and criticised their slow response.

He said the family sacrificed by spending thousands of dollars in Haiti, mostly on preserving his brother’s body, and stressed that their requests for help from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were never financial in nature.

“You ain’t checking for your own people who put you there,” he added. “Everything is about the foreigners.”

He said while the return of his brother’s body offers some closure, the family still hopes for justice but remains doubtful considering Haiti’s ongoing crisis.

“Right now we’re happy because we already know they kill him but we’re happy we get his body so we can lay him on the side of old lady,” he said.

He said he already informed his sisters not to expect justice, saying efforts to sue Haiti would be a waste of time given the slow pace of the justice system.