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With his voice break­ing un­der the weight of de­spair as he eu­lo­gised his younger son Jash­er, Aaron Fran­cois plead­ed with the na­tion—es­pe­cial­ly health­care prac­ti­tion­ers—to car­ry out their du­ties with dili­gence and care.

It was a spir­it­ed yet sor­row­ful farewell at the Bap­tist Am­bas­sadors for Christ Church in St John’s Vil­lage yes­ter­day, as Fran­cois, his wife Yh­nique, and their son Josef laid Jash­er to rest fol­low­ing his trag­ic and con­tro­ver­sial death at the San Fer­nan­do Teach­ing Hos­pi­tal on Au­gust 7. Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les-Robin­son and Oil­fields Work­ers’ Trade Union Pres­i­dent An­cel Ro­get were among those who came to sup­port the griev­ing fam­i­ly.

Stand­ing in the same church where he mar­ried Yh­nique, Fran­cois urged mourn­ers and those watch­ing on­line to let Jash­er’s pass­ing in­spire a greater sense of pur­pose.