Thirty-seven-year-old Lovern Williams will travel to the United States on Friday to bid her only daughter – Shemel Mercurius – a final goodbye thanks to the US Embassy, Fly Jamaica and the Mark Benschop Foundation.

Immediately after the US Embassy (Georgetown) granted Williams a visitor’s visa to attend the funeral of her 16-year-old daughter, Fly Jamaica presented her with a free First Class Ticket.

However, it was the Mark Benschop Foundation which had intervened on behalf of the grieving mother of six. The foundation has been offering much needed help to the Williams’ family since the murder of their loved one on May 31 in the US.

The return ticket was presented to Williams on Tuesday by Fly Jamaica Representative Desrene Caine at the airlines’ head office in Ogle.

With mixed emotions, Williams said she will forever remain grateful to the US Embassy, Fly Jamaica and the Mark Benschop Foundation for making the trip a reality.

“I just want to say thanks to everyone for helping through this difficult time,” she told Guyana Chronicle in a brief telephone interview.

Williams will depart Guyana on Friday night for the US, where she will witnessing the viewing of her first born in Brooklyn, ahead of the funeral on Tuesday.

Mercurius was riddled with bullets while babysitting her little cousin inside their Brooklyn apartment on May 31. On her dying bed she reportedly gave investigators the first name of her alleged killer.

Days after the horrendous act was committed, cops hauled Taariq Stephens out of his 67^th Precinct stationhouse in Brooklyn.

The 24-year-old, who has more than a dozen arrests under his belt, turned himself in last Thursday after his lawyer arranged the surrender with police. He was charged with murder and weapons possession.

It is alleged that Stephens shot Mercurius with a submachine gun after forcing his way into her Brooklyn Ave. home on that fatal Tuesday. The teen was shot in both arms, with one of the bullets punching through her right arm into her chest.