Troubled teenager’s body found on beach at Sandy Bay

by Ari Shaw

When Orange Hill resident Neil Cato awoke last Sunday, he never expected it would have been the last time he saw his 16-year-old son.

Cato identified Darron “Gazaman” Glasgow, when his decomposing body washed ashore in Sandy Bay on Tuesday morning.

Cato told SEARCHLIGHT that he last saw his son, who had been showing signs of mental illness, around 5:10 a.m., when he left to tend to some animals.

He said that his son lived at both his house and the house of another villager, for whom he did odd jobs for a monthly stipend.

The farmer told SEARCHLIGHT that on Sunday morning, Glasgow asked him for a cutlass, but he (Cato) denied Glasgow, because he intended to use it that day, but the teen stressed that he wanted it for his job.

However, when Cato contacted the villager who “took in” his son, around 11:30 that morning, he was informed that the teen had not come by that day.

Both men waited to see if the teen would show up, but Cato told SEARCHLIGHT that he never did.

On Monday, Cato reported the matter to the police, who told him that he had to wait 48 hours before his son could be declared missing.

When Cato left the station, he met a mute who communicated through sign language and made “cutlass signs,” which he (Cato) interpreted to mean that his son had gone to the mountain.

Glasgow usually walked between Rabacca and Owia to sell plantain chips and when Cato traced his tracks, he met a man in Rabacca who told him that he saw his son Sunday morning wearing water boots.

Cato said that on Tuesday, he got a call around 8 a.m., informing him that a body had washed ashore in Sandy Bay and he should check to see if it was his son.

“So, the same time me run down about six feet away, me tell the police, yeah, that ah my boy and me identify um by he pants and he jersey,”

The distraught father told SEARCHLIGHT that the teen had shown signs of mental illness and when he notified the police on Monday, he wondered if they had taken him to the mental institution in Villa.

He, however, added that although drugs were never found in Glasgow’s blood or urine when he was taken to a doctor, he would usually talk to himself.

Cato admitted that Glasgow has had a turbulent past and was thrown out of the Georgetown Government School because of his behaviour.

He said some years ago, Glasgow, influenced by his friends, broke people’s windows and shops and three years ago, a 13-year-old Glasgow set a house on fire in Orange Hill.

A church rebuilt the house, but the teen was handed a two-year jail sentence, which was served at the Questelles Police Station.

Since his release about two years ago, Cato said his son seemed to have turned his life around. However, last week he began showing signs of mental illness once more.

The father said he bought the teen a tonic. Last Thursday, he began calling the names of the persons whose house he had burned down.

He claimed that the family had openly stated that they are not finished with the matter.

However, the father said that his son had not been a menace to the community since his release and was supposed to meet with a psychologist before his death.

Cato, who described the incident as a painful one, said that Glasgow’s mother had been crying all day on Tuesday.

“When I been pon the scene, everybody ask how come me so strong, I feel it yea, but not really ah cry out tears and drop down.”

Glasgow left behind three siblings, two brothers and one sister and although persons in the area claim to have spotted the teen walking with a known criminal in the area, a post-mortem examination reported that he had drowned. (AS)