Annmarie Bunsee, the mother of murder victim Kern Alleyne, is adamant the 24-year-old was no criminal.
Speaking with the media shortly after viewing her son’s body on Monday, Alleyne said reports indicating her son was a criminal were hurting the family, including his four-year-old son.
Rather, she said her son was lured to his death.
Other female relatives completed her sentences after she broke down in tears. The women, all friends of Alleyne, said he was at a bar with his father when he received a call. After walking away a car sped towards his direction and Alleyne was shot. The killers took his phone before speeding off.
Police reported that around 8 pm on Friday residents of St Francois Valley Road heard several gunshots and later found Alleyne’s bullet-riddled body.
The aspiring chef lived at Zed Road, Belmont, and worked at the Mariott Hotel as a chef’s assistant. He was described as a man “who could real cook.” His mother said her son was a ladies man and not a criminal and any link to him and criminality is a falsehood. She also called for justice, noting another of her sons was killed eight years ago and no one was held.
Also seeking to clear the air on misconceptions were relatives of Ayinda Williams, 20, a handy-man who was also killed on Friday.
Police said around 2.45 pm a car drove along Old St Joseph Road and stopped outside a house Williams was in. A gunman then opened fire, killing Williams on spot. Williams, police said, was killed because of an ongoing war in the area. His killing came one day after Guyanese national Raphael Collins was murdered.
The murder of Kenno Barnum, who was gunned down while driving along Erica Street on Sunday, is also being linked to the war. Barnum, 38, was blocked by a vehicle around 3.30 pm and shot. He was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital but pronounced dead on arrival.
The murders of Williams, Barnum and Collins all took place off the Old St Joseph Road, Laventille, which borderlines between the two warring gangs and relatives of each man said they were innocent. Relatives of Barnum suggested it was a case of tit-for-tat, where innocent men from one area were being avenged by the killing of other innocent men in another.
Police said they had heightened their patrols in the community in the wake of the killings.
