ST. ELIZABETH, JAMAICA: 'Better them did cripple him,' mother of murdered 16 y-o teen, Shemar 'Brenton' Blackwood laments...."How you coping?" one wanted to know. "Coping?" she asked. "Every day I cry. I cry and cry and cry because mi still cyaan believe."

BY PAUL HENRY Co-ordinator — Crime/Court Desk henryp@jamaicaobserver.com  Tuesday, November 18, 2014    

ST ELIZABETH — "Dem kill me baby," Melleta Cunningham said during an interview with the Jamaica Observer on the weekend, four days after rampaging gunmen terrorised the mountainous Pisgah/Huntley Castle district of north-west St Elizabeth, robbing them of the life of 16-year-old Shemar Blackwood.

Shemar 'Brenton' Blackwood who was killed by gunmen
last week Tuesday at the shop his family operates in
Huntley Castle, St Elizabeth. BLACKWOOD... never expected
 anything like this to happen to his family

Cunningham's comment was uttered in a calm, even tone that did nothing to blunt the pain engulfing her since the night of Tuesday, November 11 when Shemar, the last of her four children and a student at Maggotty High School, was cut down in an unexpected and most violent manner.

"He's my baby. I have no more baby and that tear me up. Tear me up. That really tear me up inside," she said on Saturday, her eyes appearing void of life.

"It's terrible, man," she said and sighed deeply. She then repeated the words "terrible man" at least twice and trailed off into a whisper.

"Better if my son did even cripple and I know I have the challenge to take care of him. It would be hard, but at least he would still be my baby," said Cunningham, who said she hasn't eaten since last Tuesday night.

During the intervi ew at the shop where the incident occurred, Cunningham's friends stopped by on the way from church.

"How you coping?" one wanted to know.

"Coping?" she asked. "Every day I cry. I cry and cry and cry because mi still cyaan believe."

Melleta Cunningham shows the spot where her son was
shot dead by robbers. CUNNINGHAM... every day I cry
because me still cyaan believe

"A wah really happen?" another asked and Cunningham again started relating the story.

"If you don't want to talk bout it, don't talk. And let me tell you this, if you feel fi cry don't hold back the tears. Don't try fi hold it back. You see tears, it good fi you," another of the women said at one point.

The women went on like this for a while in an attempt to comfort Cunningham.

"Mi feel it. Mi cyaan stop cry over it. The way how mi halla, it come een like a outa mi own womb him come from," said the same woman. more