I tried killing myself more than 10 times, says Junior Paige

I tried killing myself more than 10 times, says Junior Paige

May 30, 2019 1 By Horace Mills

A tearful Junior Paige, who is now claiming that he is the missing son of slain businesswoman Janet Hardie-Lawrence, said he tried to commit suicide more than 10 times because of unanswered questions regarding his identity.

The 23-year-old, who lives in Kingston, told The Beacon that he wants to know:

  • Why he didn’t have a birth certificate for the first 22 years of his life
  • Why the mother he knew – Marva McCarthy, never answered questions about his unknown father
  • Why the first primary school he is known to have attended – Mountain View Primary, has no record of him from Grade One to Grade Four
  • Why there is no record of him ever attending school between the ages 0-7 years

When some of those concerns surfaced last year, speculation became rife that Paige probably is Hardie’s son – Rojay King, who disappeared during a beach trip in St Ann when he was five years old in 2002.

Paige and Hardie, partly through The Beacon, met in Kingston last year.

An arrangement was being made for a DNA test to be done to ascertain whether Paige indeed is Hardie’s son.

However, Hardie pulled out of the plan, claiming that she feared for her life because the young man’s Kingston relatives were outraged when they became aware of the DNA arrangement.

Paige, in an exclusive interview with The Beacon yesterday, said his relatives in Kingston recently confessed that he – over the years – was claiming the wrong mother – McCarthy, who died about three years ago.

That revelation about the purported confession came a day after Hardie was shot dead during a domestic dispute at her matrimonial home in St Mary.

Paige’s disclosure about the confession also immediately sparked speculation on social media that he probably is a scammer seeking to cash in on the slain business woman’s wealth.

In response, Paige said he is unemployed and is facing tough financial times, but he would not have resorted to scamming.

“I am not looking anything to scam. If I was, I would have done that a long time ago,” he said.

He further told The Beacon: “Right now, tears are falling from my eyes. The pain that I feel, no one knows. The sleepless nights that I have, no one knows. I have been trying to get answers years upon years and still can’t get any. This is the closest I get… I tried to kill myself more than 10 times. I tried to kill myself once and somebody saved me. I tried to keep it on the low. I tried to drown myself [and] someone saved me. I tried to walk out in vehicles and someone saved me. So, why are people blaming me? I can’t take it anymore; I am on a lonely road.”

Paige, in the meantime, said he is the third child for the woman he grew up calling mother – McCarthy. He added: “I was the only child for her who did not have a birth certificate. The other children for her have photos of when they were babies; I don’t have any. People hardly knew me.”

Paige, who grew up in Portland and Kingston, said he attended Mountain View Primary School, Belle Castle Primary, Fair Prospect High, and Happy Grove High School.

By Horace Mills, Journalist


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