‘Good mother gone’

A grieving Tracy Hope is struggling to come to grips with the circumstances surrounding her daughter Joel Hope’s death on the young woman’s 26th birthday.

Though it’s been several hours since her fun-loving daughter and mother of four children all under the age of 10, died at the hands of a man known to the family, she remains in a state of disbelief.

“I can’t believe it. It happened on her birthday. Her father passed away so nine years ago. The same way too,” Hope said on Wednesday morning, from her Prince Royal Avenue, Pine, St Michael home which she shared with Joel.

She recalled that she was at home with her grandchildren when she received the news about the horror which unfolded at the Pine Basin where her daughter worked.

“She was at work because she does normally answer the phone. I was home with them [Joel’s children] because when I off I does keep the children,” Hope said.

Joel’s aunt, Sherry-Ann Baptiste, who along with other relatives gathered in Hope’s living room to offer her comfort, indicated that she too was shocked by the ordeal.

Unable to hold back her tears, Baptiste said: “Just realising that she just got her job and she was doing well for her children and he just came and take her life away on her birthday; not a good gift at all. Not a good gift at all for a young promising person.”

Tuesday’s terrifying event has left her children ages 9, 7, 5 and 1, without a mother. Joel’s partner Dario Griffin, the children’s father, struggled to hold back tears as he told Barbados TODAY “she was a good mother”.

“She was really a good mother. She did her best for her children. She was strong. She had her own aspirations and she believed in what she believed in. Joel was working, she was always trying to excel in life. She was an ambitious person and she wanted to progress in life. I know she was studying,” Griffin said.

Sitting on the steps, staring into the distance, in a soft voice, the father whispered, “We had reservations tonight to celebrate her birthday.”

On Tuesday, Police Public Relations Officer, Inspector Rodney Inniss, told members of the media that lawmen from the District ‘A’ and Central Police Stations responded to the scene around 4:55 p.m. and were able to confirm that a number of persons were injured during a stabbing incident in which a female died.

“They were able to witness an altercation between what we may consider the suspect and another individual who was injured. And that person was taken into custody. The other person was treated by ambulance personnel who were summoned and he was taken away for medical attention.

“We understand that there are a number of individuals who were involved in a previous altercation. We don’t know the chronological order, we are doing our investigations to find out exactly what occurred,” Inspector Inniss said.

He appealed to all persons who witnessed the incident to contact the police.

“The investigation is still very fresh and we are not sure if there is one suspect or many more. . .We have expressed our sympathies and condolences to all the family members affected by this. It is a sad state of affairs, it is something we wish to happen to no one, but we rely heavily on the public in our investigations into this matter,” he said.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb