A day before he was allegedly mowed down by his son in Wheelersfield, St Thomas, Oneil Ferril had spent time with him preparing land for a house they intended to build in the community. The tragedy that followed Sunday’s milestone occasion has left their family heartbroken. Ferrill’s sister, Kerry Ann McZenna, told The Gleaner that his death was “hard to digest”. “It’s hard. It’s really hard not [just] because him die but how him die,” she said. Head of the St Thomas Police Division Superintendent Michael Campbell told The Gleaner that the son, who is now in police custody, reportedy had an altercation with his father on Monday. He said the older Ferril, a 53-year-old farmer from the community, left to make a police report, and his son trailed him. “He (the son) got into the car which he was driving, drove his father down, hit him from the bike, and we’re told that after he was hit from the bike, he attacked him while he was on the ground,” Campbell said. He said the police were summoned to the scene and took Ferril to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The son, who had left the scene, was brought into custody by his lawyer after a police appeal. Campbell said arrangements are now being made for him to be questioned before further actions are taken. “Every time mi remember it, I break down. I doh wah think ‘bout it too much,” another sister, Nordia McZenna, said. “Mi and mi bredda have a love connection. Wi always call one another and check up pon one another.” But the relationship that Ferril had with the youngest of his three children was reportedly tumultuous. “Mi hear every minute dem inna argument, [but] mi nuh know how true it is,” she said. “Mi hear seh up to Sunday, di son did deh deh a eat and drink, and di Monday morning, dat happen,” Nordia, who lives in Anchovy, Portland, said. She told The Gleaner that Ferril was the first of six children and described him as a kind and hard-working man. He has been travelling on the farm work programme to Canada for about a decade and spends his time while in Jamaica planting and selling plantains. “From mi small and a grow up, is a hard-working man. Him nuh depend pon nobody fi nothing at all,” she said. Up to yesterday, the family was yet to break the news of his passing to his ailing mother, who has been sharing concerns that something was gravely wrong with him, Nordia said. Kerry Ann, in the meantime, said the quiet community of Wheelersfield has been shaken by the incident. “It sad and not supposed to happen like dat,” she said. “Is first something like this happen in the community.” Statistics from the Jamaica Constabulary Force showed that 10 murders have been recorded in St Thomas up to July 12 this year compared with the 12 over the corresponding period in 2024. sashana.small@gleanerjm.com