Body washes ashore at Keartons Bay

The nephew of a man whose body washed ashore at Keartons Bay late Tuesday afternoon is thanking God that his uncle is now in the “best place”.

“He gone, but he still my uncle and thanks be to God, he gone the best place,” Bernard Harry told SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday.

According to Anna Edwards, mother of the deceased, Garfield Edwards, who made a living by selling fruit to yachties, left his Keartons home around 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon.{{more}}

“But he did drunk and from that, I didn’t see him until yesterday,” Edwards said, making no further comments.

Although Harry described his uncle as being a bit cantankerous, he did not dismiss the possibility that Garfield had drowned in his intoxicated state.

“He fell off the sailfish at Wallilabou beach already and they saw him fall off, and he get back the sailfish and get his goods and was coming back towards Keartons Bay,” Harry added.

Still grieving over the loss of his family member, Harry disclosed that Garfield had been arrested a number of times because of arguments with other villagers. Harry said he could not say his uncle’s death came as a surprise, however; family members tried to stop Garfield from going to the beach while intoxicated.

“But he head was nice when he leave on Sunday,” he said. He, however, added, “he was a very good uncle so far, I love him very much, although he was kind of stubborn and everything.”

Reports are that Garfield went missing after he went fishing on a surfboard.(AS)