Boy, 5, mourns murdered adoptive father

MURDERED: Jesse Jacob
MURDERED: Jesse Jacob

JUST four months before he was shot and killed in front of his St John home in south Trinidad, Jesse Jacob and his girlfriend Sapphire Jugoon had adopted a five-year-old boy, who at the time was sleeping on the roadside with his mother.

Jugoon told Newsday on Tuesday that the child had grown to love them and after a month he began smiling and calling Jacob "Daddy" and her "Mummy."

“Jesse made sure that our son had everything. We were not rich, but he worked long hours plying his car on the road to make sure that we were provided for. Some days he sold coconuts on the streets just to make ends meet.

"He wanted to give our son a better life and promised that he would have always been there for him. But Jesse was taken away from us,” Jugoon said through tears.

She said since the killing the child cries every night.

“I try to comfort him. I tell him everything is going to be okay. But many times he looks at the front door and asks me if his daddy will return. They shared a close bond.

"These demons took his daddy from him. Jesse was the only father he knew, and he only got a few months to spend with him.”

She said the child would be six in October and they had already begun making preparations to celebrate his birthday.

“This is so unfair to this little boy. Now I have to be strong for myself and him. It is hard but I am trying.”

Jugoon said Jacob had extended their house and built a room for their son.

“When he finally saw his completed room, he was so happy.

"That is the kind of man Jesse was. He had a big heart. If he ever saw someone was in distress he would always find a way to help them. He did not deserve to die in the way he did.”

Jugoon said her husband was not involved in any illegal activities and worked hard to provide for his family.

“I just want to know why. I can’t even sleep at night. I keep thinking about him. There are few people in this world who has a heart like Jesse. He was an angel and sent from God.”

She said if there was any child in the area that did not have a meal, clothes or needed anything, Jacob was there to help.

“He could not even see an animal suffering on the road,” she said with a smile.

Jugoon recalled a few months ago they were driving through Princes Town when Jacob saw a kitten on the roadside.

“The kitten was blind in the left eye and Jesse said to me, 'No animal should suffer like this.' We took the kitten home and cared for it, and today he is a healthy cat. It was just the kind of man Jesse was.

“If someone had told me that Jesse would have been taken away from me in this manner, I would not have believed them. Now he is gone and our little boy does not have a father. I wish I can get justice, but justice would not even bring back a father to a son.”

On Sunday, gunmen opened fire at Jacob, a labourer and fisherman, at the corner of Cipero Road and Martin Prime Road as he was driving past. He died at once. Jugoon, who was in the front passenger seat ,was hit three times in the left leg. A bullet remains lodged in her leg.

Up to late yesterday evening, no arrests had been made, Homicide Region Three police are investigating.

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"Boy, 5, mourns murdered adoptive father"

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