The mother of Blair John, one of the Bahamian men pulled from the Po River in Italy last month, returned from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Canada where she discovered her son’s valuable impact on the student body. 

During her stay, Cathleen Rahming said the campus was rocked by her son’s passing. 

She said, “We were there for a week and the impact of Blair’s death is devastating on campus. I met with the president of the university. They are very disturbed and disheartened at the events. They told me of the challenges they went through when they heard that Blair did not turn up to do his presentation.

“They made contact with the Canadian government and their connections in Italy, but they were quickly dismissed and told that Blair was not a Canadian citizen. So, the Italian authorities were not willing to give them any information.” 

She added that she met with persons from across the globe, all of whom seemed to be impacted by the 28-year-old student. 

She said, “They had a memorial service for Blair on Wednesday and the hall was full! Just about everybody that got up to speak was washed in tears. The males in particular. It was only two of them in the psychology program and they could hardly speak. 

“I met several women from Antigua and Africa that were friends with him. They described my son as a gem of a gem. His professors talked about how they sat and listened to him. He taught them. They talked about his manners. They couldn’t get over how mannerly he was.” 

She said her son had a personality which connected people from all walks of life, adding that the student body wants to do all it can to bring closure to this unfortunate incident.

“They spoke well about him. It does my heart good. Words can’t describe how proud I am and the fact the he represented our country as a black male and the impact that he made on this world in such a short time,” Mrs. Rahming said. 

Ultimately, she described her son as a man that desperately wanted to change the world.  

She also revealed that the private autopsy results for both men are ready.  However, she is unsure when she will be able to share the results with the public. 

She also shared that the intimate details of Italian police investigations are still up in the air. 

Mrs. Rahming said the family never heard anything of the CCTV footage and exactly what happened at the Airbnb.