HEAVY BURDEN

A father who lost the use of both hands when he was attacked and seriously wounded in June 2019 is not looking forward to a merry Christmas or a happy future with his four young children as he cannot work to support them.

“Depressed, frustrated and helpless is how I am feeling right now,” he summed up his situation to The Gleaner.

For months, 35-year-old Christopher Perkins, of Waterhouse in St Andrew, has been trying desperately to get help to finance tendon grafts, the price for one of which is $557,000.

He said that a doctor at the Kingston Public Hospital told him that the surgery would significantly improve the use of his hands.

“I cry night and day when I look at my life and see that I cannot take care of my family because my fingers are stiff and cannot bend,” said Perkins, who worked for four years as a truck sideman with the National Solid Waste Management Authority up to the time of the incident.

And although salary deductions were paid over to the National Insurance Scheme, Perkins said that when he sought help at the office, he was informed that he would not be able to get any benefit until he was 65 years old.

Recounting what took place on the fateful afternoon of June 13, 2019, Perkins said that after he and his colleagues had finished working, the truck driver asked him to give him a ride on his motorcycle to collect his motorcar in Duhaney Park, St Andrew.

When they arrived at the location, the mechanic was still working on the car.

While there, someone asked the mechanic to check on a truck that had broken down two streets away and the mechanic asked him for a ride to collect some tools and then take him to where the truck was.

While sitting on his motorcycle and watching the mechanic fix the truck, he felt someone chopping him from behind and thought it was a robbery.

He began to run, but his attacker chased him.

“I fell and the attacker began chopping me with a machete towards my head. I raised up my hands to ward off the chops to my head and both hands were almost chopped off,” he said.

Perkins was hospitalised for two months at the Kingston Public Hospital and now attends the outpatient clinic for checkups. He said when he went to the clinic earlier this week, the doctor reminded him of the importance of getting the tendon grafts to have the surgery done.

Sheldon Lawrence pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding arising from the incident and was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, which was suspended for 12 months. The judge, in passing sentence, had ordered Lawrence to participate in a drug treatment programme.

“Most people ask me why I don’t sue the man who wounded me, but I see it as a waste of time to do so because he has no means,” he told The Gleaner. “Despite my sufferings, I am grateful to persons like attorney-at-law Courtney Foster, ... as well as family members and friends who keep telling me not to give up.”

Foster said she did not represent Perkins in relation to seeking compensation from the offender.

“During my consultation with Mr Perkins about his desire to re-enter the workforce, we discussed with him being assessed by a medical doctor who can opine on his physical state, in particular, his fitness to work – that is, the hours he can work, the duties he can perform, etcetera.

“Based on Mr Perkins’ indications to me, the further surgeries to his hands will greatly assist him with the functioning of his hands,” Foster told The Gleaner.

On the issue of compensation, Foster said: “My general comment is that where persons have sustained injuries as a result of the actions of others and they wish to pursue civil remedies, one of the factors to be considered is: Should a civil judgment be entered in favour of the victim, what is the viability of recovering financial compensation from the offender?

“If the offender is a man of straw, enforcement of judgment will be difficult where the victim is hoping to receive financial compensation. In some instances, victims may be suffering a permanent disability, which has caused a complete change to their way of life,” she said.

Foster referred to the implementation of the Disabilities Act earlier this year as a positive move towards protecting the rights of the disabled and programnes that also provide grants to them.

“However, the financial loss of victims who suffer disabilities because of a crime can be a continuous one, and the amount of funds needed by them throughout the remaining years of their lives can be substantial,” she explained.

Perkins said that despite his current situation, he remains willing to work and is seeking help to get a weed whacker so that he and his cousin can go out and do some gardening and landscaping work in the new year.

Admitting that he will not be able to do much, he told The Gleaner he is determined that if it is even to put the broom or rake under his arms, he will just have to try.

“I don’t believe in going out to beg because begging is not in my spirit, and a lot of insults and ridicule come with begging and I can’t handle that,” Perkins said earlier this week as he looked at his deformed hands and wept.

The distressed father said that he wants his children – ages six, eight, 10 and 11 – to see that despite his disability, he is trying to make an honest living.

“I am just hoping and praying that persons will help me to purchase the tendon grafts because that will really lift the heavy burden off me and help me to have a merry Christmas and a prosperous new year,” Perkins said.

editorial@gleanerjm.com

How you can help

You may contact Christopher Perkins at (876) 336-3787.