On the second floor of an apartment building at Plaisance Terrace in Laventille, Molly McCarthy sat on a couch peeling pumpkin. As she was putting together ingredients for a pelau, her 49-year-old son Ricardo McCarthy, also known as "Docs", was laid to rest under Muslim rites yesterday.
Molly, a mother of five - three of whom are dead - shed no tears for her murdered son. Instead, the 66-year-old woman sent a stern warning to those who revelled in Ricardo's demise, insisting "their time will come."
Ricardo, of Block Eight, Laventille, was found with multiple gunshot wounds to the head in a bushy track at Belle Vue at Long Circular Road in St James early Monday morning. Police and Laventille residents alike, described Ricardo as a "menace" who rained terror in the community with brazen gun attacks.
Describing her son as "miserable from small" Molly admitted to Ricardo having flaws, but she was quick to defend his name, saying he played no part in the disappearance and murder of 10-year-old Tecia Henry. Three years ago, an attempt was made on Ricardo's life. The bullet missed, hitting instead his three-year-old daughter Abeda, leaving her crippled. In April, 2005 Ricardo's son, 25-year-old Oba Jones was shot dead at the Brian Lara Promenade in Port-of-Spain.
Time will come
Molly easily admitted to her son's murky past saying, "I'm not a deceitful mother. If they say Ricardo put down robberies...rob banks and so forth I will say yes."
Asked about Ricardo's involvement in illegal arms Molly said she had "heard" about it. "Probably if he had a gun he would keep it hidden. I never saw him with it. But I can't say he never had a gun," Molly said. Questioned whether her son was the leader of the Block Eight gang Molly said, "I know them fellas had respect for him. If that is control well then..." Words of caution from a worried mother to a seemingly wayward son went repeatedly unheeded.
"I used to speak to Ricardo, the words I use nobody would want to hear," Molly said. The motive for her son's killing, she believed, was simply because of "grudge." "It have a lot of grudge, a sort of jealousy that was happening. "Ricardo is a boy always up to mark," Molly said. Unperturbed by the revelry in Laventille over Ricardo's death, Molly warned that everyone who rejoiced would "get their share."
"What goes around, comes around. Every man to their order," Molly said. Saying Ricardo was "appreciated" in the Block Eight community, Molly scoffed that those whom her son once helped, were now celebrating his death. "When he put down he little robbery and he know you, he would come and give you things. "People singing and dancing that my son dead, but it don't bother me," Molly insisted.
Paid for his days
Ricardo was implicated as the primary suspect in Tecia's murder. John John residents theorised that even if Ricardo did not personally carry out the heinous act, he "sanctioned" the killing of the little girl. But according to his mother, her son played no part in Tecia's murder.
"That what they put my son in totally wrong. He used to call the little children and carry them to the parlour and buy snacks for them. "As a mother, I would say Ricardo do what he do, but what happen with the little girl, he was innocent," Molly said. She said her son left home at a very early age and since then he lived his life the way he wanted.
"He live his life how he wanted. I never really mix up with him," Molly said.
Holding to the belief that her son's time had come Molly said "despite what" Ricardo was with the Lord. "Probably he pay for his days, but right now Ricardo is happy. "I hope Jesus make peace with him because it was time for him to go, "Molly said.
