HE’S NO MONSTER

“MY grandson, I want everybody to know, is not a monster. He is not a bad person.”

This was the declaration from a 69-year-old woman who yesterday said she was in no way defending her 15-year-old grandson who on Thursday chopped off the right hand of his own mother, but instead, is forgiving him for the attack. The pensioner said it hurt her deeply when she saw her daughter’s blood at their Carapichaima home. But yesterday during an interview at home, the grandmother begged the nation not to demonize her grandson on social media and in everyday conversation.

On Thursday morning, in a fit of rage, the form four Presentation College, Chaguanas student chopped off his mother’s right hand at the wrist and chopped her to the back of the neck at their Waterloo home. Police said he was in school uniform and was about to leave home when he turned on his 46-year-old mother. The night before, she confiscated his cellphone.

The boy used his father’s cutlass to chop his mother who at the time was in her bedroom. During the incident, only the boy and his mother were at home. Police said the teen was found in a daze hiding near the Waterloo Cremation Site minutes later.The crying boy later told police it was unfair that his mother had taken away his cellphone. So he chopped her.

“I could not believe what I was seeing. He had his mother’s blood on his shirt. His father had also came home and asked him why he was not at school. He didn’t respond and continued walking pass us,” the grandmother said. “His father called out to his mother but did not get any answer. It was only when he went to the bedroom he saw his wife covered in blood,” she said.

The woman said her grandson had a very good upbringing. “He is a brilliant boy. He performs well in school. He plays cricket and football for his school,” she said. In both sports, he is an excellent player,” she said. She admitted that the boy had began to “slack off” in his school work recently and was spending hours on his cellphone.

“His mother spoke to him over and over about being on his phone for so many hours when he should be studying as exams are near. She told him over and over that she would take away his phone, and she did,” the grandmother said.

“Any mother would want the best for her child and she thought that taking away his cell phone would have been the best punishment. No one thought this would have ended like this,” she said. “She would talk to him and quarrel like any mother would. I am not blaming her in any way. She is a good mother and she did not deserve this. I am not defending his actions, but I beg of everyone, don’t paint him as a monster,” she pleaded. Struggling to hold back tears, the woman said, “He was never involved in a fight in his life. He is not a violent person. “It just puzzles me why he would do something like this. He has his entire life ahead of him. I wish this was all just a dream,” she said. Police sources said when investigations are completed, the maximum charge the schoolboy could possibly face is attempted murder.