GRANNY FEARS FOR GRANDSON'S LIFE

The US Embassy in Port-of-Spain denied a visa for the boy who is now motherless.

When Bernadine Thomas, 52, applied for the visa for her grandson Umar Patterson she was told it was against US law to issue a visa for the boy. The body of 34-year-old Patterson was found near a deep river in the hills off Fondes Amandes, St Ann’s on April 29.

According to reports, police believed Patterson’s head was bashed in after a blood-stained rock was found close to the river bank where her body was found. St Ann’s residents on Wednesday claimed Brenton Straker, who was gunned down on Tuesday night, was suspected in Patterson’s murder.

Thomas said Umar is in need of counselling and is fearful for him since the person who murdered his mother is still out there. “I fear for my grandchild’s life,” she said.

Thomas, a US citizen, said she planned to take Umar on a vacation and sought information from the US Embassy in New York on documents she needed for the boy to visit. She said she also visited the US Embassy on Marli Street, Port-of-Spain and was also told about the relevant documents she needed and that she had to go online and fill the application form out and make her payment before she could be interviewed. Thomas said she was granted legal custody of Umar by the court which came into effect on Monday with liberal access to his father Shawn Baptiste until Umar turns 18. She said she even got an extension on Umar’s passport and could not understand why the visa was refused.

Thomas said the embassy official even sympathised with her on Patterson’s death and had no problems with the documents which she provided at the interview.

She said she supplied her recent income tax paid in the US, a job letter, custody and recommendation from the school which Umar attends. An upset Thomas said while she has rights for Umar she does not want to put him in an orphanage. “I am his grandmother and he loves me to death,” an emotional Thomas said. She has been living in the US since 1986, and is married to a US citizen. After her daughter’s death, she left her ill husband in hope she would get her grandson to spend a vacation with the family.

Thomas said she is unable to stay for the six months it would take to complete the procedure to adopt Umar since she has to return to work and bills to pay.

She said Umar does not speak about his mother’s death but questions every day on whether he is going abroad with her. Thomas said the child’s father has been very cooperative and would prefer Umar grows up with her since he does not want him to be raised by a step mother. She said she paid $830.25 for the interview at the embassy and thought nothing was wrong with the documents she provided, so she was upset when she did not get the visa for Umar.

Thomas said when she returns to the US later this month she will be retaining a lawyer. “I want my grandchild with me. He needs to relax a little with his grandma.”

Thomas’ heart aches that she has to leave Umar by a relative until something gets done. She fears the stress is making her ill, as her sugar level has crossed 341 and thinks that she has to visit the doctor before it gets worse.

US Embassy Public Affairs Officer Michelle Jones, in an e-mail yesterday, said she did check with the visa section but they are not allowed to comment on individual visa cases under the US Privacy Act. The Privacy Act of 1974, Public Law governs the use and sharing of personally identifying information by the federal government. “So we cannot comment on someone being issued or not issued a visa,” Jones said in the e-mail.