raphael.lall@guardian.co.tt
“I feel sad. This is really hard. My husband isn’t with me this Christmas and the children are crying and are in grief.”
Shelly-Ann Mungal’s voice was still filled with anguish and raw emotion after her husband, Randy Joseph, was murdered in Gasparillo in October.
Joseph was stabbed in the chest and shoulder with a knife by a woman while in the gallery of his in-laws’ home at Houssa Trace, Lightbourne Road, Gasparillo.
He died minutes after the attack.
His death has left a void in her family, and she is now the sole breadwinner, struggling to make ends meet while caring for her two children.
Shelly-Ann Mungal is not alone in her grief this Christmas, as hundreds of families have lost fathers, sons, mothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles to the horrific violence—mostly carried out with a gun.
Trinidad and Tobago is on track to have the highest murder rate in its history as it approaches 600. The country had its highest number of murders in 2008, with 550, only to be surpassed by this bloody year.
Many of these murder victims’ families must face the harsh reality of spending Christmas without their loved ones.
Acting Commissioner of Police Erla Christopher admitted last week that the country would be facing a murder count of 600 or more this year, but called on women to understand their influence in the fight against crime and criminality.
She pleaded with the women of this country stating, “We cannot do it alone. And as we come to the end of this year I want to appeal to our females. I am speaking to mothers, wives, sisters and aunts. We hold a position of influence. We can influence the mind of all the young men who are bent on living a life of crime. We can influence all those young men who are hired as shooters, all these young men who display disrespect for life.”
FLASHBACK: Marva Bostic, mother of Keisha-Marina Bostic, reacts to the murder of her daughter outside her home on Drayton Street, San Fernando.
RISHI RAGOONATH
A struggle for Christmas: “Where’s Dad?”
Sherry-Ann Mungal, like many other women, will have to pick up the pieces and move on in order to provide for her children. But for the mother of two who shared a home with Joseph for eight years, his absence is devastating, and he is no longer present to celebrate Christmas with them.
“This isn’t easy. This is heartbreaking. It’s the first Christmas without him. In fact, he would have turned 30 years on December 17,” she told the Sunday Guardian during a telephone interview on Friday evening.
He worked as a mason in the construction industry, she said, and he took time off around Christmas to be with his family.
“Every Christmas was really nice. He made sure we had everything. He also always tried to have work so he would have money to take care of us. He bought toys, he bought food. He made us happy.”
Riley Joseph, six, and Meliah Joseph, three, are the children she had with him, and they are missing him this Christmas.
“The girl just talks about him and she spoke about him last Saturday. She spoke about buying a cake for daddy but asked who will cut the cake for him. The boy is not coping too well. He misses his daddy more. He is taking it harder than his sister.”
She described the daily routine around Christmas.
“He used to do the baking like the ham and other things. Christmas morning, he was the first to wake up and then he would wake us up. Then he would give them their toys. After, we would have breakfast. I don’t know how I will cope on Sunday when we wake up on Christmas day and he’s not with us.”
In November, the woman who is suspected of killing Joseph surrendered to the police.
Mungal is pleased with the police investigation but believes that more could be done.
‘’I don’t know about the other guys but I know the police have her in custody. The police did a good job but one thing I am not satisfied with is they are not keeping me updated on the latest on the case.”
Despite her loss, Mungal draws on her spiritual beliefs and faith in God as the year comes to a close and a new year begins.
“We look forward to a new year without him. But my kids and I know we will be okay. I am not working right now, but in January I hope to have a new job.”
“Keisha loved making pastelles.”
FLASHBACK: Germaine Modeste, 74, paternal great-grandmother of Jomol Modeste, spoke to Guardian Media at her home at Enterprise Street, Chaguanas.
SHASTRI BOODAN
Marva Bellamy-Bostic, 66, the mother of Keisha Marina Bostic, who was murdered by her husband Shamzard Mohammed last month, is heartbroken that her daughter will not be with her this Christmas.
Mohammed shot Bostic several times as she was leaving her Drayton Street home in San Fernando in early October, then shot himself in the head.
Marva had one other son, Daniel Bostic who was murdered at a San Fernando Mosque in 2015.
In a telephone interview with the Sunday Guardian, she recounted some of the memories she and her daughter shared together during the festive season.
“We would have been making pastelles together, ponche de crème together and other types of food. Sadly, I am not doing any of the above this year. We have been preparing Christmas meals since her school days in St Stephen’s College. In the early 2000s, we actually made 500 pastelles for a certain order. Nice memories.”
Apart from assisting during Christmas, she said her daughter also paid all her bills and helped her.
“She was a beautiful daughter. I could not ask for more.”
She said she is “hurt and bitter” over her daughter’s death.
“In all my 66 years I have never hated anyone. But with the death of my daughter, I have learned how to love and how to hate. I advise all families who have daughters who are the victims of domestic violence to move them far away to another country to save their lives.”
She praised the police for keeping in touch with her even after her daughter’s death and burial.
“Sergeant Ramlogan from the CID has stayed in contact with me. They have asked me how I am.”
Germaine Modeste, the 76-year-old paternal great-grandmother of Jomol Modeste, who was killed in October at the African Recreation Ground in Enterprise, told the Sunday Guardian that his family misses him this Christmas.
“We miss him, he was a good boy who made us happy. This is Christmas time and he loved Christmas. We are not happy knowing that he is not here with us this year. But we have to let go and move on. God giveth and God takes back.”
She recalled some of the happier memories he had with his family at this time of the year.
“He liked toys like bicycles for Christmas. He liked to eat too. He loved snacks. This was a season he loved so much,” his great-grandmother recalled.
