Halls Road grieving after fatal family altercation

Halls Road, St Michael was left reeling after a much-loved resident died from injuries sustained in an apparent family altercation, as violence takes its toll on yet another close-knit community in Barbados.

At around 10:16 p.m. on Tuesday, 63-year-old David Leacock reportedly got into a row with a male relative at Leacock’s home in Marl Hole Gap that turned violent.

Leacock, who was hurt in the altercation, was taken by ambulance to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

Neighbours described Leacock as a good man who was loved by everyone.

One resident said: “David was a very nice fella, a very cool fellow and a loving fellow and a joyous fellow… he will be missed in the community.”

Another grief-stricken neighbour, Sandra Pollards, said his death now leaves her mourning two people: her father and Leacock, who was to be a pallbearer at her father’s funeral. She recalled their conversation on Tuesday.

Pollards said: “In the morning, David say, ‘San, you know, I’m the pallbearer’, so you know, he said, ‘when I come out, I ‘gon dress hard, hard, hard, cause Bigga used to dress sweet, sweet…. So I dressing like Bigga for the last,’” she recalled of their conversation the day he died, as they spoke about plans for her father’s funeral.

She does not know what led to the altercation, she said. “All we were up here enjoying ourselves and that’s it. We ain’t know what else happened. We can’t tell you what happened.”

Another neighbour said Leacock always made them laugh: “He used to make sport with me, he’d make me cuss, but you know he was cool, man. David was real; it’s hard, you know, I still can’t believe that… he didn’t deserve to die that kind of way. That’s the truth.”

Leacock was described as very helpful, even to an elderly man in the neighbourhood who has no one to care for him.

Pollards said: “David would come down on a morning… once he down here, he’d make sure he bathe, he clean, he got something to eat, he got something to drink. David used to look after the man… he gonna miss he just as bad as me. He was a loving fella, very loving.”

Leacock had plans to attend the funeral services of two other colleagues. “He was also planning to go to two of he workmates’ funeral cause one died, and he said even if we got to catch the bus to get to St Leonard’s Church, he ‘gon get there cause he needed to go to the funeral; he used to work for Sir Winston Scott.”

Another resident described him as friendly and generous. “He used to share with everybody in the neighbourhood and thing… so everybody’s sad… cause he used to make sport with everybody.”

When Barbados TODAY visited his relatives in the area, they said they were not ready to speak about his death.

(LG)