Men deny rumours that they pushed friend to death

The two men who were fishing with Garth Pompey when he fell into the sea at Mt Young, are dispelling rumours that they pushed him to his death.

“People talking things to say we push Garth off the stone and all kind of things. Nothing like that didn’t happen. We grow up together. He was my friend,” electrician Omoro Horne {{more}}told SEARCHLIGHT earlier this week.

The body of Pompey, also known as “Worldboss” and “Ginger” washed ashore at the Colonarie beach on Monday, February 9, after he had been in the water since Friday, February 6.

According to Horne, he, Terry Browne and the deceased set out on the fishing trip shortly after midday and went through a tunnel at Mt Young to find a good spot to fish.

“We were in one spot, but we weren’t getting any fish there, so Garth went over to some rocks on the other side, where he caught two fishes,” Horne stated.

He recalled that Pompey called to them where he was, so that they could all fish in the same area.

“In the next five minutes or so, Terry told him that the line look like it jammed on a rock and Garth decided he will go and clear it, but Terry told him not to do that,” he said.

“After a little while now, I see the wave hit the rocks and I see he in the air flying when the water hit him off the stone and drop him in the water,” Horne recounted.

He said two more waves struck Pompey while he was in the water, as he was attempting to seek refuge on a rock.

“He wasn’t too far from the shore, but when the swells lash him, he was pulled back out in the water. We been walking along the rocks to guide him to show him which part he could climb up…”

Horne said the deceased was not crying out for help, but was trying his best to get to one of the rocks.

“I freeze up when I seeing all of this. This was when Terry run to get his phone to call his brother to tell him call the police,” he stated.

Admitting that he wished he could have done more, Horne said he is not a good swimmer and that the water was turbulent on that day.

“I don’t really have the skills to swim to save nobody really. I feel really bad to have witnessed that. It could have been me you know,” Horne said.

Browne, a cousin of the deceased, gave basically the same report about what had happened to Pompey.

According to him, it would have been difficult to assist Pompey, because of the turbulence of the water.

“When I see him go down, I start to cry and run for my phone to call my brother… We been trying to talk him to safety, but the water was just too rough. The place been so breezy and like he said something, but we couldn’t hear.”

“We told him to relax himself and take off some of his clothes to make himself lighter and then at one time I see he put up his two hands and after that, we didn’t see any sign of him again,” Browne stated.

When contacted, sister of the deceased Deoniece Dellimore said Pompey, who resided at Chili Village, Georgetown, was a great brother and human being.

“We had a good relationship. He was the kind of man who used to give freely. When he have, is like the whole of Chili would eat. That’s why the whole Chili neighbourhood crying,” Dellimore said.

According to her, she received the tragic news from a relative abroad, but did not want to believe.

“I could tell the world, when I make other calls and found out it was true, I start vomiting. I just there bawling and saying it was not true,” a distraught Dellimore said.

While her brother is gone, Dellimore said she still does not want to believe what had happened and stated that the only thing she can do now is hang on to the memories they once shared.

She said she last spoke to her brother that same Friday and told to come at her house.

“He call me about 8 a.m. to tell me his shoes dirty and the other one raise up and he can’t come. I called him back and told him to come with the dirty shoes and I will carry you in town to get a new one. He never come and I never see him again until I saw his body the Monday morning,” Dellimore added.

Pompey’s funeral will take place on February 21 at the Assembly Gospel Hall in Chili, Georgetown.