Taxi driver killed before getting chance to reunite with son

Well-known taxi driver Richard Nembhard was, yesterday, looking forward to reuniting with his son from overseas, who he had not seen in about three years, but was robbed of the opportunity after gunmen shot and killed him in his car.

The father of three had planned to pick up his son from the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston on Emancipation Day.

The 56-year-old transport vehicle operator, who plied the Whitehall Avenue route, was shot multiple times near the intersection of Mannings Hill Road and Cassava Piece in Kingston.

An official release from the Constabulary Communication Unit stated that the shooting occurred at 4:40 a.m. and that Nembhard was rushed to the Kingston Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Onlookers near the scene said he was shot while driving and lost control of his car and crashed into another vehicle that was parked at Midway Mall Plaza before slamming into the entrance door of a fast-food premises.

When The Gleaner visited the scene, a fallen stop sign and a boarded-up section of the fast-food premises were evidence of the deadly attack.

The victim’s spouse, Sharon Alexander, who was obviously distraught, said she was home when she got the terrible news.

“Me hear a car blow first, den me say, ‘Wait, how deh car deh a mek so much noise outside?’ So me nuh pay it nuh mind because nobody naa call mi, so mi guh lay down back. Den mi see mi phone ring and Bungi say, ‘Sharon, you hear wa happen?’

“Him say, ‘Dem just shoot Richie a Mannings Hill Road’, and mi say, ‘What!’ and sidung. Den mi hear a next guy come and say, ‘Sharon, dem just shoot up Richie a Mannings Hill Road and him dead’,” she recalled as she sat outside her home.

The woman, who lived next door to her partner and father of her son, said she immediately grabbed her granddaughter and ran to the scene, where she saw Nembhard slumped over in his car with injuries to his chest.

She said it was Nembhard’s usual practice to start his day by 4 a.m.

According to Alexander, he was excited about seeing his son and had spent Wednesday afternoon cleaning his car in anticipation.

“He was there cleaning and shining down the car. At one point I asked him if he is going to rub off the colour,” she said.

FATHER FIGURE

Alexander said Nembhard’s son had also promised to take him to Dream Weekend and that he had agreed to go.

A young man from the community, who gave his name as ‘Kevin’, was in tears as he spoke about Nembhard, who he described as a father figure.

He said the taxi driver’s murder has rocked the entire community and that all the youths in the area were saddened as Nembhard was an elder they respected.

He said that often, when he did not have food to eat on a Sunday, it was Nembhard who would come to his aid and bring him food.

“Him is a good man. Dem man deh fi stiff out in a dem bed and we call ambulance,” Kevin said as the tears trickled down his face.

Joy Williams, who was also reduced to tears when she heard the sad news about her childhood friend, said she last saw him on Wednesday wiping down his car and had observed a black shadow over him but did not think too much of it at the time.

“I’m only sorry say mi never cancel it,” she said.

In the meantime, Williams said she was hoping that his killers would be found and brought to justice.

“People don’t talk about their problems anymore? What kind of satisfaction you get from killing? she asked.

None of them, however, knew of any reason Nembhard would have been targeted.

The incident is being investigated by the Constant Spring Police, who, yesterday, theorised that it might be a reprisal killing for another person who was killed a day before in the Whitehall Avenue community.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com