Mom thinks son’s drowning may be work of obeah

by Lyf Compton

Susan Jacobs, the mother of a teenager who drowned in the waters off Union Island on Friday, July 17, thinks his death may be linked to obeah.

Secquwond Jacobs, 19, and his friend Akeem Anderson Grant are said to have left Valley in Ashton around 12 noon and journeyed to Basin on the southern top of the southern Grenadine isle.

The duo is said to have boarded a boat, after which Secquwond jumped overboard and later returned with a shark and a turtle. He is said to have instructed Akeem to turn off the boat’s engine and wait for him to signal to be picked up after he finished his second dive.

Susan said that sometime after Secquwond went overboard, Akeem realized he was not seeing him and decided to check a buoy which Secquwond was using as a marker.

Akeem is said to have pulled the string attached to the buoy but managed to only retrieve Secquwond’s spear gun. He is said to have sought help from islanders. The body of the diver was later retrieved by Secquwond’s father Timothy Jacobs.

Secquwond was known as a strong diver who was skilled at diving to great depths without a tank.

“I would say this with no doubt, God knows best,” the dead man’s mother told SEARCHLIGHT on Monday.

She is entertaining the idea that her son may have been targeted with sorcery, by persons with whom he had some trouble.

According to Susan, a few years ago, Secquwond and his friend Sheldon Gellizeau, 17 at the time, stole some items from a family on the island. She said the items were later returned.

On Monday July 17, 2017, 68-year-old Winston Langdon and his stepson Sheldon went missing after they left to go fishing in a single engine boat. They were never found.

Coincidentally, Secquwond died on Friday July 17, 2020, exactly three years after his friend Sheldon. Susan sees this as no coincidence.

“The 17th July, exact date. The boy and his stepfather never returned, and the same date is when Secquwond, who is a fish, drowned. That is strange to me,” Susan told SEARCHLIGHT via telephone.

She said her son was an extremely strong swimmer and a certified diver who would shoot fish at depths of up to a 100 feet and she finds it strange that he died in the manner he did.

“’He gives everyone fish when he goes out, he just loves to dive.

“Something strange, unusual and God knows and by the grace of God I am holding on. I’m not even crying,” Susan commented while revealing that this is her second son to die in tragic circumstances.

A few years ago, her two-year-old son Ezra Isaiah Coy was struck and killed by a motorcycle while he was on his way home from school.

“At this point I am very normal; he is my second child to die,” Susan said while adding that she only stopped grieving for Ezra nine years ago when she birthed another son and named him Ezra also.

She said that Ezra looks like Secuqound and she is comforted by this.

“We living in a sinful world where there is good and evil, and I understand the devil is the ruler of the earth.”
Susan noted that she had begged Secuqound for the longest while to come to Canouan where she lives but he refused to do so.

“He found a million reasons not to come,” she stressed.

An autopsy is expected to be conducted on Secquwond tomorrow, Wednesday July 22. He would have celebrated his 20th birthday next Friday July 24.

Edwin Snagg, Director of Grenadines Affairs has offered condolences to the Jacobs family. He also noted that the young man’s death has brought to the fore the importance of adhering to certain safety guidelines when free diving and the need for proper training of persons who free dive for a living.

Secquwond is the second person to have drowned in the Grenadines in as many months as on Sunday May 31, 24-year-old Leonard John, originally from Fancy, drowned in Canouan during a fishing accident.