Sherdeena Durant, Zion’s mother is comforted at the funeral yesterday. PHOTO: JENNIFER WATSON

BY ASHA JAVEED

The closed eyes and pouting lips on the baby-smooth face made five month old Zion look like he was asleep.

His body lay on the left shoulder of his father, Anthony Jones. The two had been laid out in white tuxedoes.

Zion was laid to rest the way he died—next to his father.

When the coffin was opened, after Pastor Ricky McClatchie reassured the congregation gathered to mourn the deaths to remember that “God is good,” screams and wails filled the Daybreak Assembly Church at Coconut Drive, Morvant, yesterday.

Several people fainted.

After 15 minutes, he said the coffin would have to be closed, as the mourners proved reluctant to move away.

Zion’s grandmother, Jemma Edwards, started to scream as the coffin was rolled into the church, and the hymn Amazing Grace was being sung.

Sherdeena Durant, his mother, sat barefoot and dazed throughout the service.

Delivering the eulogy, Beatrice Durant told of the difficult pregnancy her daughter had been though with Zion.

“There was something special about him. He brought joy to our home,” she said.

She said Zion just had his first tooth and it was agreed among the family that you had to pay to watch inside his mouth.

Durant said, “God will do what he has to do. This has made my faith grow stronger.”

McClatchie told the mourners the murders left many questions unanswered and but called for restraint in seeking justice or vengeance.

“Some are blaming the Government. The crisis that we face in this nation is bigger than any political party. Our young men are dying like flies,” he said.

He said Zion and Jones had early appointments with God.

“There are some things in life, as devastating as they may be, you can't avoid it. Funeral services should force people to look at life,” he said.

He called for people to stand up in the congregation who want to make a difference. They walked to the front of the coffin an raised their right hands as their first step.

“Don't let it be just another death from the ghetto. We need spiritual healing,” he said.

flashback

Anthony Jones and his son Zion were shot on Saturday night, when they were about to enter a taxi on Picton Road in Laventille. They were rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, where Jones was pronounced dead on arrival. Zion, who was transferred to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, died while undergoing emergency surgery on Sunday morning.