Mom of murdered son: 'I cannot bear to see him in a coffin'

AILING mother of three Arlene Frontin, who turns 41 tomorrow, will not be attending the funeral of her murdered son Stephon, as she refuses to see him for the last time in a coffin.

“I cannot do that. Oh God, no. I cannot bear to see my son in a coffin.

"I will not be attending the funeral service, but I will be listening from inside my house.” a tearful Frontin told Newsday.

Stephon Frontin, 22, will be buried at the Penal Rock Road Cemetery after a funeral at the family’s home tomorrow.

Frontin who has kidney problems, was at the San Fernando General Hospital on Sunday night when she last saw him alive. On that night, before leaving, Stephon hugged and kissed his mother goodbye.

“This is the way I want to remember him. I want to remember him standing by my bedside kissing me. I want to remember his smile. I don’t want to see my son’s body in no coffin. No, I can’t go I can’t see him like that. I just can’t and it hurts me so much, I don’t think this pain will ever go away. Oh God, why?” she cried.

Frontin said her birthdays would be usually spent with her children, and Stephon would always buy her something special.

“Tomorrow is my birthday and my son would be buried. It was not supposed to be like this.”

When Frontin learnt of her son’s death she asked doctors to discharge her temporarily to mourn him at the family’s Penal Rock Road home.

On Tuesday she returned to the hospital for dialysis, but relatives said she is expected to return to the ward at a later date.

At about 10 pm on Sunday, Stephon was at the bar liming with friends when he and another customer argued. The man is said to have left the bar and returned shortly with a gun and shot him in the back of the head.

Three weeks ago, relatives said, Frontin had to be intubated for a day and doctors feared the worst, but the next day she regained consciousness, and believed she had been given a second chance at life to spend with her children.

No arrest has been made but police have questioned several people. Penal CID are investigating.