Visitors tell how the actions of two ‘thugs, cowards’ changed their lives forever

Life for Kenneth Elliot’s family has been “hell” since he was shot and paralyzed during a robbery attempt in Barbados over a year ago.

The Canadian man was vacationing with his partner Linda Brooks, his brother Robert and sister-in-law Mary at a home in Christ Church when two masked men stormed the residence on February 22, 2020 armed with a gun and cutlass.

He was shot in the upper body and spent 97 days at different hospitals being treated.

Travis Orin Campbell, of no fixed place of abode and Alexander Patrick Alleyne, of Ealing Grove Gardens, Christ Church are on remand at Dodds prison in connection with the incident.

Recently before Madam Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell they pleaded guilty to trespassing in the Christ Church residence where Robert Elliott was staying with intent to steal while armed with the weapons.

They also took responsibility for using a firearm when they did not have a licence to do so as well as unlawfully and maliciously wounding Kenneth Elliott with intent to cause him serious bodily harm or to maim, disfigure or to disable him.

Today, from their home in Canada, Kenneth’s partner Brooks told a virtual sitting of the No. 4 Supreme Court that their entire family had been impacted by the ordeal and their lives had changed drastically.

“I don’t enjoy life anymore, there is nothing to look forward to anymore. Life’s hell really,” said Brooks who had been present when the armed, masked men approached.

“I can’t sleep anymore. I go to bed at night and then Ken has to rotate in the night every four hours to prevent pressure sores and I am awake through this . . .  I am now basically a caregiver 100 per cent. It’s not a nice life.

“I am on anti-anxiety pills and sleeping pills to help me sleep. I am going to see a counselor on a regular basis,” the still visibly shaken woman said.

As Alleyne and Campbell listened via Zoom from Dodds, she told the court they were not only impacted emotionally and psychologically, but financially as well as they had to renovate their house to now accommodate Elliot’s needs.

“The costs involved with all this, it’s been very expensive; the cost to renovate the house. All we have for income is pension because we are both retired. All our savings had to be used to do all the renovations and I had to have them done before they let him out of the hospital. I had to make the decisions which normally Ken would [do]. He was the man of the house. I have had to become the ‘man of the house’ now,” she disclosed.

Kenneth’s brother, Robert did not mince words on how he felt about what had taken place.

“My life has been flipped 180 degrees. I no longer live in the part of Canada where I was born and raised. I have come out to help and assist with my disabled brother.

“It’s a turmoil. My brain doesn’t want to accept that this has happened, it’s unfathomable to me. To see the man point a gun and then hesitate and then have the audacity to pull the trigger after hesitating it’s sickening, I can’t describe it. My life is not the same.

“I don’t know how well you are versed in paraplegics but their life expectancy is quite reduced. So I will be here for as long as my brother is alive to help him manage his life; help around the yard; help do his manly duties around the house,” said Robert who disclosed that he had “just retired” and had a life that was “quite peaceful” but that had “changed quite a bit”.

He said he doesn’t believe he would ever vacation in Barbados again.

“Not only because of the costs incurred to go there, which I had to save in my retirement to be able to go to Barbados and then to have it thrown out the window by two thugs, cowards! It’s unfathomable.

“They are cowards, they don’t deserve to breathe the fresh air given to us by God,” he added.

His wife Mary, who had also been at the residence when the men approached, said the situation had also left her very “suspicious” and had resulted in her opting for early retirement in order to help care for and support her brother-in-law.

“It left me very suspicious. I have had trouble sleeping. I had a lot of symptoms of PTSD that I have had some counseling for. It’s just changed our whole life.”

She explained that the incident has changed her attitude to travelling.

“I don’t think I will travel anywhere again, Barbados or anywhere else . . . because I feel so suspicious . . . I feel like my naivety is gone and I feel angry about that,” she said.

The case which is being prosecuted by Crown Counsel Kevin Forde will continue on May 14 with submissions on sentencing.

Attorney-at-law Ryan Moseley will mitigate on behalf of the convicts.