Ross Sheil and Andrea Downer, Gleaner Writers
Maryam McLeod, a muslim and mother of Jermain Lindsay, the Jamaican-born suicide bomber, with her Grenadian husband (at right) and the family attorney, Peter David. - CONTRIBUTED
MARYAM MCLEOD, the mother of Jermain Lindsay, the Jamaican-born 19-year-old suspected of being a suicide bomber in the July 7 London attacks, yesterday defended him as the "best son I could have ever hoped for".
The death toll from the coordinated bomb attacks has now reached 56, including the four suspected suicide bombers.
Mrs. McLeod had taken her son as a five-month-old to the United Kingdom in 1986, separating him from his father Nigel Lindsay, who remains in Jamaica.
Speaking at a press conference in St. George's, Grenada, where she has been living with her Grenadian husband, a tearful Mrs. McLeod defended her parenting and pleaded for the media to leave her in peace to grieve. She said she had co-operated fully with British authorities.
Following an introduction by the family lawyer Peter David, she began her statement by offering praises to Allah, first in Arabic and then in English.
BODY UNIDENTIFIED
"I am indeed the mother of Jermain Maurice Lindsay, who is a named suspect in the horrific London bombing. I am still in shock and know not how to grieve for my son. Therefore, I grieve first for the victims," said Mrs. McLeod. But she later said, "I don't even know if this is my son," reasoning that neither she, nor his wife, had identified his body.
Mrs. McLeod said she last saw him on a visit to the U.K. in 2004. She said she admired and respected him and that "he was so mature and he was so sincere and so loving," as a brother, husband and father.
Lindsay changed his name to Abdullah Shaheed Jamal after he converted to Islam as a 15-year-old with his mother following soon after. Three years ago he met his wife, a British woman called Samantha Lewthwaite, now aged 22. They had a baby, Abdullah, now 15 months old and she is currently eight months pregnant.
Defending Islam as a religion of peace Mrs. McLeod acknowledged that her and her son's conversion came at a time of growing extremism within the faith. "We talked and we agreed that suicide bombings - those type of things to hurt innocent people, it's not from our religion."
Asked by journalists for greater background information about her son she replied: "It's all out in the papers you know, he's a good kid, he was very keen on getting his schoolwork work done, he was just brought up well. I think I did a really good job with my son."
She added that leaving him and his younger sisters in the UK when she moved away was okay because they were supervised.
Closing the press conference she conceded she was unable to cope or able to grieve because of press intrusion. "People are in my home, they go to Jamaica to my family, they're in Boston, they're everywhere, my friends they have no peace, my friends have no peace," she pleaded.
"Just accept what I have said today, that's the best that I can do."
