Senior Reporter
shane.superville@guardian.co.tt
Gladys Moses, the mother of murder victim Michael Moses, says her son’s death is proof that the ongoing State of Emergency (SoE) is ineffective in keeping citizens safe.
The younger Moses was one of three men gunned down in separate attacks across Laventille on Sunday afternoon.
Earlier that day, Romello Edinborough, 29, was pulled from a house by gunmen on McShine Lands, Laventille, where he was doing renovations.
He was shot and killed as the men were seen running away towards Desperlie Crescent.
Shortly after, another 29-year-old, Shaquille Woods, was shot and killed in Joe Sam Hill.
Police investigators said no motive has been established for the three murders, but suspect they arose from individual issues and were not part of wider gang warfare.
Speaking with Guardian Media at the family’s Laventille home, the elder Moses said she was not convinced that the SoE was working, referring to the murders of Keon Alexander, Dwayne Alexander and Jesse Nelson, in nearby McShine Lands on February 27.
“All them police, all them army men can’t do anything because people still dying. Three dead last month, and now three dead this month.
“Every day they killing people.”
She admitted, however, that her son had problems as he survived an attempt on his life sometime ago.
Moses said after his friends were killed a few months ago, she warned him to leave the neighbourhood, but lamented that he did not heed her advice.
“The young people don’t hear the old people, because when they killed his three friends, and he got up one morning and said they got killed, I told him, ‘Boy, you can’t live around here.’
“He asked me: ‘Where I can run and go?’”
She said her son was unemployed at the time of his murder, adding that losing him was particularly difficult as her daughter Michelle Moses was murdered in 2009, while another daughter died naturally when she was a baby.
“This is my third child I burying and I asking God to give me the strength to face it. It not easy to bury him,” Moses said.
Moses’ father, Wayne Alexander, said he felt the only way to achieve a safer country was for the attitudes and mentalities of people to change.
He said, despite the pain they caused, he hoped those responsible for his son’s murder could change their lives for the better.
“Brothers, I forgive allyuh, turn around allyuh life and give allyuh life to Christ and stop fighting down one another, we are all black people. We all have the same blood.”
When Guardian Media visited several areas around Laventille yesterday, life continued as usual, as people were seen walking to and from the nearest parlours.
One man, who asked not to be named, said while the murder of the men was sad, it was simply a reality they had learned to live with.
“This is not a surprise to nobody you know? Yesterday it was them, tomorrow it could be somebody else, but the truth is all of us have to find a way to survive.”
Guardian Media attempted to speak with Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro after the TTPS Interfaith Service at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s yesterday, but he said he was late for a meeting.
Speaking with reporters, DCP Junior Benjamin said while the murder of three men in Laventille was unfortunate, he was confident in the ability of the police to respond to such crimes.
“We never feel proud about that (murder) and to those who have suffered loss, we want to extend our sympathies at this time but really and truly, as a police service, we want to look at the bigger picture that we continue to fight, especially with the Commissioner (of Police) at the forefront.”
Officers of the Region I Homicide Bureau of Investigations are continuing enquiries into all murders in Laventille.
