Three months after Banks DIH employee Matthew Scott was shot and killed in front of his home while running to the aid of his sister and a neighbour, the family still remains uncertain as to the progress of the case.
Rather than facts, what they have been bombarded with are rumours, including rumours that the two bandits shot by police after they would have invaded a family gathering at Seaforth Street, Campbellville, a few days after Scott was killed, were the ones responsible for Scott’s death.
Scott died shortly after he was shot on the night of December 13, after responding to the cries of his sister Simone and neighbour Maureen Bristol, who were attacked by armed robbers just a few houses from where they reside. There had been a widespread power outage at the time.
“…If them turn and seh the boys dead them supposed to carry me fuh identify the boys. I supposed to go and witness the dead,” Scott’s sister stated.
A visit to the North East La Penitence residence yesterday saw Scott’s mother, Maureen, tending to the family’s shop. The woman related that she knew little about the case, except that her daughter had been called in a few times to witness identification parades.
“Everybody is ask us one thing, everybody. “Maureen, the police call ya? Maureen, ya hear anything…my husband all went down to the station to just find out and they holler, `oh, we gon call you’”, the woman related.
Frustration marked Simone’s face as she spoke of the few interactions she had had with the police concerning pinpointing the perpetrators who were responsible for her brother’s death. She said she had been on several ID parades, the last of which occurred at the Diamond Police Station.
Simone noted that while she had been called in by police to identify suspects, the same had not been done with her neighbour, Bristol, who was also a victim of the robbery that ultimately led to her brother’s fatal shooting, and who, she stated, had had the chance to clearly view their attacker.
“…them supposed to carry Maureen cause the boy go up to Maureen fus, and she know he to. She know the boy…When he scramble me and he turn, I go down so she had the opportunity fuh see he full,” the woman related.
“…remember I get cuff and I fall down…so she had the opportunity fuh see he flush, all I see is the tattoo and the thing and I fall down pon the ground when me and he had the scramble. The only person I didn’t see is the (other assailant) so I not swearing meself to no other …person.”
It was previously reported that two young men had been involved in the robbery attempt, and Bristol had reported to this publication then that one had approached and attacked them while the other had stayed behind.
Simone also said yesterday that another neighbour had also had a full view of the incident from his window, but police had also failed to bring him in to aid in the identification process. The police had also neglected to contact any one of them to ID the vehicle belonging to the attackers, which it was rumoured was found later that very night.
Scott had been recently married at the time of his death, and according to this mother, his wife now finds it difficult to visit the premises.
Although the woman did not appear optimistic, she expressed that she is counting on the police to do their duty in following the case so justice can be served.
“…he’s the only one would sit down and gyaff with me…everybody de just like he, he different from the rest, he could sit down on the step and somebody pass here 20 times, [he’d say] ‘morning, good day,” ya know? That’s how he grow up, he was so very friendly,” the woman said in relation to her son, who she described as being liked by many.
