MY SON BEAT ME

Alex Anthony Loney
Alex Anthony Loney

SHANE SUPERVILLE

FOR 17 years, Laurel Thomas Loney suffered abuse at the hands of her own flesh and blood...her son Alex Anthony Loney.

Yesterday, after viewing her 35-year-old son’s body at the Forensic Science in Centre in St James, Loney said she felt conflicted over his murder and while she still loved and will miss Alex dearly, she could not bring herself to make excuses for him and his actions.

Over the years, she said, mothers of known criminals have often tried to make excuses for their children, but she could not lie about her son’s abuse any more and urged parents to correct their children and instil discipline in them from a young age.

Of her son, she admitted, he was a very ignorant person sometimes. “He always wanted to control people and talk to them however he wanted and was always in conflict with someone over something. I always used to warn him about his temper and I would get licks from him in return,” Loney said.

Shortly before midnight on Thursday, Loney aka “Tusty”, was asleep in his bedroom at his mother’s Winston Mahabir Road, Pleasantville home, while his mother was listening to the radio in the living room.

She later heard the sound of breaking glass then two gunshots and her son’s final scream rang through the house. She saw his body in the corridor covered in blood.

“Whoever did it broke one of the bedroom windows to get a better shot at him. He probably tried to run away, but it was too late. I don’t know what to say about it, really.

“My son was involved in a lot of stupidness and I can’t excuse him or pretend it didn’t happen. At the beginning of 2016, he started seeing this girl and he didn’t want me in the house any more...so he kicked me out. I only came back last year when he and the girl stopped seeing each other,” Loney said.

Loney, who worked as a Community Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) worker and a private-hire taxi driver, had three children aged five, nine and 12. His mother said he was largely absent from his children’s lives. Laurel, 65, said her husband died of heart failure shortly after Alex’s birth in 1985, leaving her to take care of her four sons on her own.

She said she is fearful for her last living son, who lives only a street away from her.

Her first-born took his own life in 2012, while her second son was shot and killed after a quarrel in 2014. She said she is urging her last son to take his family and leave Trinidad.

Asked if she had a message to other parents, she urged them to take charge of their children from an early age and offer proper guidance and advice.

“I grew up with four brothers all older than me, and I can’t remember one time the police having to visit my mother.

“He (Alex) always used to have police coming to my house and questioning me. That really used to pain me.

“I want to tell parents to raise their children the proper way. There are so many negative influences out there corrupting children. I also want the children to pay heed to their parents and give their lives to God.”

She said Alex’s murder was deeply traumatic and says the memories of their arguments, fights and now his murder are too much for her to bear and she may consider leaving the house soon.

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"MY SON BEAT ME"

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