FORGIVE ME SON

Gorkin spoke to his child during the funeral service at the Tranquillity Methodist Church on Tragarete Road in Port of Spain. Gorkin said while the event has left him deeply traumatised, he is convinced God knows best. “I want to let everyone know that I love my son. I listened to people who lost their sons and felt their pain. But I never thought this pain would be mine to experience. Please! Please forgive me Messi,” Gorkin said. “Messi, I carried you to the beach. I carried you and did not bring you back,” Gorkin added.

Gorkin said that on Thursday night he was unsure if he would have the strength to attend his son’s funeral yesterday, as he began to experience chest pains and dizziness. But through the strength and support of his family and friends, Gorkin said, he was able to attend Messi’s funeral and give him a final send off.

“I spoke to God last night because I was suffering with some high blood pressure. I was feeling really sick and I felt I would have to call the ambulance. But I’m here right now by the grace of God. I don’t want to fly in God’s face because He knows best...

but I’m really hurting right now,” Gorkin said.

Officiating minister, Acting Reverend Peter Lubsey said that he too was deeply saddened by Messi’s passing and assured mourners that the toddler was in a better place. “I doubt what I have to say this morning will offer you any instant peace. After a while, the pain eases but there will always be grief.

“There is an unnaturalness when parents have to bury their children. We might ask, ‘why only three years?’ but I want you to know that God created Messi for an eternity. He belongs to God,” Lubsey said.

Messi’s mother Patricia Gibbs was beyond consolation at the end of the service, as pall bearers wheeled her son’s tiny casket onto the Church foyer for a brief viewing.

Gibbs was not ready to say her final goodbyes just yet as she stretched her arms out to stroke his little face. Moments later, relatives had to hold her to prevent her from falling.

“Messi get up and talk to me,” she screamed. “Get up! Allyuh don’t hold me back, I want to hold my child.” Messi and his relatives were on a family lime at the Boardwalk in Chaguaramas last Sunday when tragedy struck.

Messi’s father was speaking to someone on the boardwalk with Messi at his side.

When he turned around, Gorkin realised his son was nowhere to be seen and a frantic search was carried out for the child. A missing person report was made to the Carenage Police Station that night and hour later on Monday morning, Messi’s body was found floating in the sea at Pier 1. An autopsy later confirmed he died by drowning. The little boy was later laid to rest at the Lapeyrouse cemetery.