Relatives of murdered man celebrate him through son's birth

Thirty-one-year-old businessman Dexter Joseph, aka "Pullskin," would have celebrated the birth of his first child yesterday, had he survived a drive-by shooting on Wednesday night that claimed the lives of two people and wounded three others in St Barb's, Laventille.

Speaking with Newsday yesterday, one of Joseph's relatives confirmed that his wife gave birth to his son at the Port of Spain General Hospital yesterday at around midday, around the same time his autopsy was being done.

Joseph's girlfriend, who was also pregnant, did not give birth and was discharged from the maternity ward yesterday.

The relative said despite his efforts to do good and maintain peace and order in his embattled community, Joseph was drawn to the criminal lifestyle after his younger brother Derrick's death two years ago, but the birth of his son gave the family a second chance to make up for mistakes Joseph made.

"His wife gave birth, but the girlfriend wasn't ready yet, so she was discharged."

She said his wife was to be discharged sometime yesterday.

"So we are all really celebrating his son's birth more than we are his death. We want him to have a positive legacy for his son, so we want to keep him more grounded and focused on improving himself and his community."

Joseph, she admitted, "was involved in the crime, but that was only after his brother was killed. But he always served as the peacekeeper in his community...with him gone I don't know what's going to happen. He wasn't a bad person, but he always had a lot of women around him because of how he carried about himself."

The relative said Joseph's death meant the end of a family, as his three surviving brothers live in the US and will not return home for his funeral, as they were too distraught over the death of their mother earlier this year.

While she did not want the name of the child revealed, the relative also said his wife intended to name him something similar to "Dexter" to honour his father's memory.