Child survivor recalls deadly taxi attack
Grief grips families, Chetwood Primary after two boys perish in triple murder
Published:Wednesday | November 8, 2023 | 12:10 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A youngster who escaped death on Monday evening when a taxicab he was travelling in came under attack from gunmen recalled having to duck his head to escape the raining bullets, which killed two students and an adult male.
The child, who was recalling the fear and horror during the attack along the Flower Hill main road in St James, moved several persons within earshot to tears as he related his ordeal on Tuesday.
Among those listening were National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang, Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson and other members of the security forces who toured the troubled community.
Four children and two adults were travelling in the vehicle, which was transporting students from school, when the car was fired upon by gangsters aiming at a target who was a passenger. The shooting is believed to be linked to the ongoing gang war in the area.
Two students – seven-year-old Justin Perry and nine-year-old Nahcoliva Smith, both of the Chetwood Memorial Primary – were fatally wounded, along with 26-year-old Tevin Hayle.
On Tuesday, a sombre atmosphere engulfed the Montego Bay-based school as students, staff and parents mourned as the Ministry of Education initiated grief counselling.
Justin’s mother, Althea Erskine, had to be taken to the hospital for medical observation and treatment, as the grief overcame her.
Nahcoliva’s mother, Natalie Heaven-Smith, said she would have preferred if it was her life that was taken by the murderers instead.
Both boys are the youngest in their families. The women have mothered other children who have gone to the teenage and adulthood stages, and were just enjoying time with their ‘wash bellies’.
NO VENGEANCE
Heaven-Smith, acting principal at a primary school, revealed that she has been crying non-stop since she learnt of her son’s death. She said that while she had no vengeance in her heart, she knows the killers’ days will be bitter.
“They are going to beg for mercy and mercy not going to answer them. The same way mi stay up last night and couldn’t sleep is the same way dem never sleep,” she cried, wondering aloud how she would find the strength to attend Nahcoliva’s funeral and lay him to rest.
Heaven-Smith believes her son gave her a sign on Monday when he didn’t eat before going to school.
“He was probably fasting for his death because he kept saying he was not hungry,” she muttered.
Nahcoliva was one of the most well-behaved children at his school, and just as his mother cried as she remembered him, so, too, did his classmates.
For Erskine, the tragedy was just as devastating, as she recalled how she begged the driver not to pass her home with her son, owing to the gang war that has erupted between gangsters in Salt Spring and Flower Hill.
“The driver didn’t listen,” said the mother of three, her other children being a 17-year-old son and a 20-year-old daughter.
For much of Tuesday, Erskine was in a state of shock, seemingly in a trance and barely able to speak.
Senior Superintendent of Police Vernon Ellis, head of the St James Police Division, has offered the Jamaica Constabulary Force Chaplaincy to provide counselling to the families, which he admitted is not normal, but very necessary owing to the extraordinary circumstances.
He said that the police would assist the families in getting the post-mortems done.
“This is a partnership as they go through this current stage in their lives. We are going to [identify] a liaison officer that will provide communication between them and the police department,” Ellis stated.