Mom: Laventille a scary place

Almost exactly two years ago, on January 21, 2016, the nation recoiled in horror as schoolboys Mark Richards, 15, and Denilson Smith, 17, were pulled from a taxi on their way home after school and shot dead.

Today, Smith’s mother, Inez Phillips, says, while she has forgiven her son’s killers, she has not forgiven the neighbourhood that spawned them, and believes hope is lost for the embattled community of Laventille.

“I would leave here if I could, but I can’t. It’s been two years and two days since I’ve heard my son’s voice. I try not to think about it too often but I have to walk along Picton Road every day where he and Mark were killed, so its hard not to. This is a scary, eerie place and the people stay behind closed doors. But they know exactly what’s going on.”

For many of Smith’s classmates his death may be a fading memory, but Phillips, who still lives in Laventille, is constantly surrounded by memories of the young man she affectionately refers to as “Deeni.” But she says her husband, still grieving, left Laventille to live elsewhere shortly after their son’s death.

Recalling the shooting death of Morvant-Laventille Secondary School student Joshua Andrews and taxi driver Devon Fernandez earlier this month, Phillips said she was instantly reminded of her own son’s murder. Remarking on the similarities between the incidents, she says the increasing violence against children is testament to how dangerous Laventille has become.

“I don’t think anything short of divine intervention can help us at this point,” she said, talking about the recent killings. “I just remember hearing about it on the TV and leaving my daughter out in the living room to go in the bedroom. I sat there in the quiet by myself and kept saying, ‘Not again.’ I can relate to his (Andrews’) mother and the pain she feels, but also can’t relate, because everyone has their own way how they grieve.

“I don’t mope or cry, but I remember his face when I identified his body. He looked so scared.”

Phillips says her daughter, now in form five at the Success Laventille Secondary School, despite the family’s tragedy, continues to excel with the dream of becoming an engineer.

“His siblings feel the pain, but life goes on.”

Despite having lost her son, she is convinced forgiving his killers was a crucial part of her recovery and advises all parents who have lost children to violence to do the same. However, Phillips says she often speaks with the mother of Mark Richards, who she says does not believe in forgiving her son’s murderers. “She doesn’t feel the same way as I do. She doesn’t forgive them at all, even though I tell her that holding onto all that hate isn’t healthy. My husband and I didn’t feel like that. We just eventually realised that he was actually gone.”

Asked what advice she could offer parents of children lost to violence, Phillips says she can only ask parents to talk to their children and get to understand. All too often, she says parents talk to children without listening.

“What else can a mother do besides talk to her children, let them know that she loves them and try to understand them. I can’t do anything now. All I can do now is thank God for the 17 years I’ve had with him.”