By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE grieving families of two Bahamian men killed in Haiti more than three months ago say they are desperate for closure, as the remains of their loved ones continue to languish in a Haitian morgue.

The bodies of Shadrack Stuart and Joey Russell have been held up for months by bureaucratic delays and a lack of official assistance, relatives said, claiming a single missing signature from a Haitian doctor has stalled their return home.

The doctor, they claimed, fears for his safety if he signs the release papers needed to transport the bodies back to The Bahamas. Without his signature, the paperwork cannot move forward.

The men were killed in July during what Haitian authorities described as a drug-related operation. Officials said they intercepted a small vessel carrying narcotics and that gunfire ensued. Bahamian officials later confirmed the deaths with Haitian authorities.

Relatives of Mr Stuart, a native of Moore’s Island, were shown images of his body floating in the water after the shooting. Both families have since been caught in a cycle of false hope and dead ends as they try to reclaim the remains.

Lloyann Stuart, Mr Stuart’s widow, said the ordeal has been “extremely depressing.”

“It’s been too long. Every time they get hope that the paperwork will be signed so they could come and take the bodies, that hope just goes back down the drain,” she said.

She said the family’s morticians in Haiti are also growing frustrated, adding that the process has stalled over the doctor’s refusal to sign.

“They saying they only waiting on this one signature, and they need the paperwork for the body to come on the plane and clear Customs. It’s been three months now,” she said.

Mrs Stuart said the experience has left the family emotionally drained. “It’s very hard. We’re trying our best to stay strong. Right now, as I’m talking to you, I feel like I could break down,” she said.

She also believes Bahamian officials could have done more. “It seems like they don’t know anything because every time we reach out, we don’t get any answers or help. We heard they are asking for a letter from the Ministry of Health in The Bahamas. We reach out to them and all, but they haven’t gotten back to us. I don’t know what’s going on,” she said.

Austin Russell, brother of Joey Russell, shared similar frustrations. He said both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must sign off on documents before the bodies can be released.

“We told them we don’t need them to do nothing else. We don’t need them to pay for nothing because we doing everything by ourselves. We just want to get the body back home,” he said.

Mr Russell said the families have been paying to keep the remains at the Haitian morgue since July and are heartbroken that the process has dragged on.

“I can’t see how it could be a problem for him,” he said, referring to the Haitian doctor’s fear of signing the paperwork.

He added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could have been more proactive. “I think

Foreign Affairs should have been there to assist. They said they got people down there, but they didn’t check or do anything. The first thing they told us was to let the funeral home deal with it, and that’s what we did. We have a funeral home in Haiti and one here in The Bahamas,” he said.

“The only thing we want to do — we just want to bury him on the side of our old lady,” he added softly.

When contacted yesterday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell and Director of Foreign Affairs Jerusa Ali did not respond up to press time.