Tragic end for Bartons mother with eight children, now relatives want her off the land

The 32-year-old mother of eight children was on the brink of falling into a state of depression when her life-long partner and biological father of seven of the kids became disabled after an innocuous fall in the yard in January. The freak accident disrupted their livelihood so badly to the point that Robinson appealed publicly through Old Harbour News for help. Aid did come from Jamaicans from all over as both corporate and individuals demonstrated a level of benevolence that caused the Bartons mother to cry “tears of joy”.

Grateful for the outpouring of love and support, the prayers of Robinson and her children were that the main breadwinner, consummate father and husband would recover soon to lead a normal life. Their optimism increased when Rodville Wallace, 46 and Robinson exchanged vows officially on November 19 – all fully financed by a certified marriage officer and pastor who read their story on Old Harbour News. The private ceremony consecrated 15 years of love and togetherness for the couple who were doing well enough on their own before misfortune befell them.

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Things took a dramatic turn for the worse when Wallace suffered a massive stroke and suddenly died about nine o’clock in the night on Christmas Eve at May Pen Hospital. He was hospitalized 48 hours earlier due to a minor stroke, the second in three weeks after suffering a similar cerebrovascular accident back then. The third stroke proved fatal.

And just when you thought that an extremely difficult year could not get any more difficult for her, it has. Speaking to Old Harbour News Christmas morning Robinson said relatives of her now late husband have already made that intentions clear that she must vacate the property they have been living on for the last decade and a half.

With the wounds of the death of her husband still very raw, she has to be contemplating finding a new home, as tensions over a longstanding land dispute is already at boiling point.

“The pickney dem a tek it hard and at the same time we lef out a door. Mi husband gone and a family place so mi affi come out,” she sobbed.

She wept throughout our chat, oftentimes lost for words and asking “why me?”

“Them (family of her husband) start war before him dead,” she added.

“So mi lef alone with eight children to take care of. If mi did have somewhere to live it would a be easier fi mi.”

Such unbelievable levels of bitterness and lack of remorse towards her and the children have placed Dagea on an unavoidable collision course it seems.

“Them [husband relatives] se mi no have no say in a mi husband funeral. [And said] a dem have to mek the decision,” she said.

“The mother (her mother-in-law) call mi up this morning and a bare war dem a mek wid mi; a se mi affi mek his mother mek the decision, mi cant mek no decision. All a di family member coming at me. But true mi no have it mi affi just step aside and mek dem do dem thing.

“My biggest fear now is somewhere to put mi children them head. That’s my biggest fear. My biggest fear right now.”

She’s hoping that she will get some assistance from charity organization Food for the Poor to build a house. A Good Samaritan, she said, is willing to allow her to occupy a parcel of land they own.

For one still blessed with youth on her side, the frustrated mother has had many unforgettable days with December 24, 2021 the latest addition that she will certainly carry into eternity.

Mysterious sign

Shortly after she returned home from the hospital she said she got a call from a doctor to “come down to the hospital urgently”. But there was a mysterious sign that something was amiss. “One a di time mi tek up di plate a food and when mi look a mi husband face mi si. And mi se ‘a wah dis yah?’ So mi turn to mi mada a se ‘mi tek up di food and mi a si Wallace face’,” Mrs Wallace said. 

When the doctor informed her of the tragic news that her husband died merely an hour after she left his bedside, she felt a despairing feeling.
“Mi feel like fi just run and no stop run,” she said in a hopeless voice.

Family land

According to the mourning widow the internal feud over the property originally owned by Wallace’s late grandfather was a constant cause of discomfort for her husband. “Wallace always a fret about this,” she said. “When him tek sick him se to me ‘Dagea if mi dead dem ago put you out, weh you and di pickney dem ago go?’ But mi always se ‘you ago come back, you ago alright’.”

She said her husband had started the process to acquire the property from the “rightful owner” but the deal fell through or perhaps is in limbo when the proprietor died few years aback.

Her husband had paid 50 percent of the cost of the property but there’s no evidence of that transaction because the relative died during the same period.