Friends mourn stabbing victim

A Jamaican man believed to be in his 40s is Barbados’ latest stabbing victim, with friends and residents of St George describing his death as senseless.

The man, whose identity has not yet been released by police, was reportedly hanging out with a number of people near a business establishment at Lower Estate Tenantry Road, St George, around 9:30 p.m.

Police said an altercation broke out and one of the men received stab wounds to the abdomen and succumbed to his injuries at the scene.

A friend of the victim, Latoya, described him as a peaceful, hardworking man and expressed grief that he was attacked in such a manner, with several people speculating on the motives for his death.

Vaughn pours a drink to honour his late friend (Photo by: Lourianne Graham)

“We was talking about life, work…. Why take a man’s life like that?”

She said the man was not someone who looked for trouble and condemned the circumstances surrounding his death.

“He’s a man that walk from Flat Rock just to be round we…its’s hard to see a man you now talk to just get stab up and now dead… that’s hurtful.”

Latoya described the deceased as a chef who enjoyed singing, dancing and spending time with friends.

She recalled their last conversation, during which he told her that his nephew was experiencing difficulties in Jamaica and that he wanted to work and save enough money to bring him to Barbados.

“The man worked 12 hours a day for $80 to see if he could buy a plane ticket to bring his nephew here so they could make [a better] life.”

She said she was particularly troubled by the fact that she left the area only minutes before the attack and believed that, had she remained, her friend might still be alive.

“It aint fair… Justice got to be served because he don’t interfere with nobody.”

Latoya said the victim had three children, and their conversation that night had touched on their families.

Another friend, Vaughn, recalled leaving his friend briefly and hearing a bottle break before seeing someone running towards the area where his friend was.

“It took me five minutes to walk away after speaking to him here. By the time I poured a drink, I heard a bottle breaking, then I saw the fella that grew up round here run down there,” he said.

The area where the Jamaican man was stabbed to death in St George (Photo by: Lourianne Graham)

Vaughn said he went to investigate and was shocked to discover his friend lying on the ground.

“I said, ‘Wait, what he do?’ So I took a walk back to see what was going on, and it’s then I saw the body on the ground. When I got closer, I saw it was my friend, barely breathing.”

He said it took him a few minutes to recover from the shock before he could alert others to what he had witnessed.

Vaughn said attempts were made to contact the police, but he was unable to get through after calling District ‘A’ Police Station and being directed to another station.

(LG)