Husband of mother of 16 mourns: 'She was gunned down before my eyes'

Sherma Francis, 56, told her common-law husband Herman Riley she was going to die just before she was taken to hospital after being shot on Saturday.

She was with Riley and friends when gunmen in two cars started shooting at the group while they limed in the road in Charuma Village, Biche, on Saturday.

At the Forensic Sciences Centre in St James on Monday, Riley recounted what led up to the death of Francis, the mother of 16.

After the men shot at the group, the cars turned around and they shot at them several times again causing those in the group to take cover again. When the shooting was over, Riley and his friends were unharmed and thought Francis had also escaped. It wasn't until she complained of a burning sensation in her back that they realised she had a bullet wound

"I didn't know she got shot. She and all didn't even know she got shot. When they come back and shoot again, she get up and run, not knowing this time she already got shot."

In tears, Riley recalled their last conversation before she was put in a car to be taken to the Rio Claro health facility.

"I don't know why this happened, but what I'll always remember is she was telling me, 'I going to dead inno, Beti' – she calls me that – and I said, 'Yeah, I know, girl,' because the wound I saw, I told her she couldn't make it."

Francis was declared dead on arrival at the health facility.

"They killed my wife in cold blood in front of me. They just come shooting and they shoot at me too.

"I lucky to live, I real run for my life (or else) I wouldn't be here today. I thought I get shoot, because there was real smoke," Riley remembered.

He believes Francis died because she was was in the wrong place at the right time.

He also believes the men involved in the shooting, had a dispute with one of their sons and wanted to send a warning to the family.

"This wasn't supposed to happen. These guys shot in a way to show they have guns.

"It wasn't time for Sherma to go. They wanted to get one of our sons and couldn't get him, so they take whoever they could get."

The family has faith the police can find and prosecute the perpetrators, but he is worried his children may go looking for justice.

"I'm not a violent man, I don't promote that. But I always believe when somebody kill somebody, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The Bible has it.

"I don't want no violence, but I don't know how my children thinking right now. Their mother dead and gone – she was their eyeball. These children can't take on that.

"But for me, I believe justice will be served."

He said Francis was anticipating the birth of another grandchild.

Instead, he said, "I plan to finish the house piece by piece as best as I could. I am the head now, because she was the head before. It's just for the family to hold one head and the children to listen to me and take my advice."

He lamented, "These fellas need to remember they have sisters, mothers, and children too and they won't want to feel the pain and distress they caused me and my family.

Before the shooting happened, Francis went out with her 15-year-old son and then returned. Riley said his son had tried to get Francis to stay home because he had noticed two suspicious cars driving around the area minutes earlier.

Looking back on the 40 years they lived together, he described his wife as caring, hardworking and a generous mother who loved children.

Riley said this isn't the first time had the family dealt with losing a relative through gun violence. In 2014, one of Francis's brothers was shot dead.

The autopsy, by pathologist Dr Somu Sekhar Gajula, showed Francis died of one gunshot wound to the upper back.

She will be buried on Saturday. Police are continuing investigations.