Mother still trying to understand how son lost his life

An elderly mother is struggling to understand the circumstances surrounding the death of her son, Herbert Callender, who was stabbed early Monday morning.

A grieving Chandis Callender, 76, told Barbados TODAY she was awoken by a loud knocking on her door and her visitor, who said she was her son’s girlfriend, informed her that he had been killed.

Callender said the woman told her the 52-year-old taxi operator, also known as “Herbie” was robbed by a group of men. The woman, the mother said, also claimed that the culprits took her chain and lashed her with a piece of wood.

“I trying to put the pieces together . . . .  Something is wrong,” a distraught Callender said as she sat in the living room of her St Barnabas Heights, St Michael home.

According to a police report, the father of five and granddad of two, who also lived in St Barnabas Heights, was stabbed by another man in an altercation early Monday morning.

Police have said they received a report around 5:05 a.m., that two men were involved in an altercation at Garden Land, Country Road, St Michael.

Herbert suffered several stab wounds and was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) by a private vehicle where he was pronounced dead on arrival at the Accident & Emergency Department.

However, Callender, a mother of four, is convinced there is more to the story than is being told.

The mother, who said she is still in a state of disbelief, explained that she was told at the hospital that her son died from a stab wound close to his heart. Callender recalled that the last time she saw the second of her four children was on Saturday evening when he was washing his car close to her home.

However, Callender noted that one of her neighbours said they last saw him on Sunday night when he went to their home to collect two pineapples.

“I can’t get over this. He don’t live here but he would shout me sometimes. He was driving taxi. His brother gave him the car to work. He real handy. Herbie can build anything with his hands. I trying to be strong, but his daughter down there ain’t taking it good,” Callender said.

The retired government worker who said she had lost her appetite since receiving the tragic news said Herbert was a caring person but admitted that he was “disgusting at times”.

That did not stop her from mourning his death.

“My son gone and I will miss Herbie. When I look through that window, I would see Herbie car park yonder and he washing the car and he polishing it. Herbie gone,” the sad mother said. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb