Men's activist tells Tobago: Take a stand against crime

The funeral of 21-year-old murder victim Isaiah Thomas on Monday focused on Thomas's bright future, cut short by violence.

Thomas, who lived in Lambeau, was found floating in water near the Lambeau bridge on February 27. He was reported missing a few days earlier.

An autopsy determined that he died from chop wounds to his head and neck and water was found in his lungs.

At the funeral at the Mt Paran Spiritual Baptist Church in Bethel, founder of the Tobago Men Making a Difference Foundation Jaiye Melville said the population needs to take a stand in the fight against crime and violence, especially among the youths.

“We must say no more and therefore we must seek to address the situation by promoting programmes which would address this issue, even before our young men find themselves in the graveyards or even incarcerated in the prison system. We have to make a stand, we have to teach the young men coming up – the time is now,” Melville said.

Politician Wane “Wasp” Clarke described Thomas as kind, friendly, hard-working and ambitious.

Clarke, who lives in the area, said Thomas was like his son.

“I nurtured Isaiah from birth. His mother died young, so everybody took a little more responsibility for him. I used to do physical education at the Lambeau school, so we had more interactions there. I also opened a coaching academy of which he was also a part. He was one of the first students enrolled there.

"All in all, Isaiah was a joyful soul. I mean you’ll feel a little sad in the way in which he died but he lived his life to the fullest.”

Recalling that over the past four years, there were at least four or five murders in Lambeau, Clarke said previously, it took a village to raise a child but nowadays, the village was no longer raising the child.

“One of the main reasons for the decay in the society...we does talk about it taking a village to raise a child, but it really isn’t so again.

"The reality is that somebody would be ready to kill you if you tell them that their child did something wrong. People are now ready to jump at you if you take it upon yourself to correct their children – so everybody has now developed a hands-off approach and saying it’s not their business.

"To me, that is one of the most destructive situations we can find ourselves in as a society.”

Newsday understands three men are assisting police in the investigations into the death.

Thomas, who worked with the Civilian Conservations Corps, was also an avid footballer who played with Prison FC

as a striker and a goalkeeper in the Super League in 2018 and 2019.

He was the nephew of UNC activist Barrington “Skippy” Thomas, who officiated atthe service. His body was interred at the Buccoo Public Cemetery.