A murder on Saturday has left a newborn without a father and a woman left to mourn a second member of her family. 25-year-old Jovanni Augustine had just welcomed the newest addition to his family a week before he was gunned down on Curassow Street. It's a long way from his home in Biscayne Village, and he was only in the city to attend his sister-in-law's funeral. But his common-law wife says that a car had been stalking them and that the suspect has had it out for Augustine.
Today Courtney Menzies went up to the village to speak with her:
25-year-old Jovani Augustine was about to celebrate his birthday next Monday, and his step-daughter's birthday on Friday. He was also celebrating the birth of his first child, which was on October 9th. But only a week after her birth, he was murdered.
Augustine had moved to Biscayne for his own safety and that of his family, but when his sister-in-law passed away, he accompanied his common-law wife to her family's home on Curassow Street. There, the family was supposed to head to a funeral, but Augustine never made it.
Voice of: Judith Parham, Common-Law Wife
"He come with me and I told him wait right here, or go by my bra-lee by the vehicle because we supposed to go in that vehicle because the bus is full so I gone inside for the bag and by the time I walk up the step I hear bang, bang, bang, bang when I come outside, I see my coke, the coke I gave him, I see the coke rolling down the street, when I look for him, he is face down and bleeding out of his body."
"I don't know why he shot him, why he did what he did, but God knows best."
And while she doesn't know why, she knows who, since 27-year-old Kareem Beeks was charged for this murder. And reports are that the two have been at odds, and Beeks had allegedly threatened Augustine before. And, Augustine had previously been stabbed.
Now, Parham and Augustine's family are trying to come to terms with his death while taking care of her newborn and her two other daughters.
Voice of: Judith Parham, Common-Law Wife
"He was an okay person, alright, everybody got they lee up and down with people. He is always laughing and singing."
"We are trying to think what to do next, trying to get together to lay him to rest."
But while they plan another funeral, the police's investigation led to the arrest of another man, an ex-cop.
Darrel "Tutsi" Usher, the son of minister of state, Gilroy Usher, was charged with kept unlicensed firearm and kept unlicensed ammunition after he was found in possession of the alleged murder weapon.
Usher claims police asked him to help find the weapon, and they arrested him shortly after he did; police say no such request was made, and he had a possible murder weapon on the front seat of his pickup when they stopped him.
But today, the department's communications officer denied that he was charged, despite the police report confirming it.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Officer
"Sometime around police visited a scene on Curassow street where a bus was parked, apparently to transport people for a funeral. It is alleged that a fully tinted, heavily tinted white car approached Mr. Augustine, the driver fired several shots at him fatally injuring him. Police have since arrested and charged Kareem Beeks for that murder."
Reporter:
"Sir, there was also someone else charged in connection to the weapon for that member?"
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Officer
"We have no proof of anyone else being charged in connection with that murder in particular. It is a fact that Mr. Beeks was charged, so we can only report on the facts."
Reporter:
"Have investigators been able to obtain the firearm used in that crime?"
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Officer
"Well, Vijay, I am not in the practice of giving out what would be evidence, especially in capital crime. So, whatever we have gathered as evidence remains with the investigators and the prosecutor's office until that matter goes in front of the court, no."
The fact is though that this key piece of evidence - possibly the murder weapon, a loaded Glock 17 pistol is the property of the murder suspect, KAREEM BEEKS' girlfriend - who is a police officer. And it was found in the vehicle of an ex-cop, Tutsi Usher.
All those legal twists and turns provide no consolation to Augustine's family - left to mount on his birthday.
