(Trinidad Guardian) Dana Peruza last saw and spoke with her son Keyon “Geno” Gill around 7 pm on Thursday as she ordered KFC for dinner.
Leaving Keyon behind as she left with family members to collect the order, Peruza said upon her return, she learned he had already left to spend the weekend with his father, which was normal.
Comfortable in the knowledge that Gill, 12, was safe in his father’s care, the 32-year-old mother of one said she was horrified and shocked to learn on social media that the two had been executed in a car on Friday night.
The bodies of Gill, a Form One student of the San Juan Secondary School and his father, Clevon Gill, 34, of Frederick Street, Curepe, were found in a parked car along Lady Chancellor Hill, Port-of-Spain, around 6.30 pm.
Police found curious onlookers gathered around the heavily tinted pearl-white Nissan Sylphy.
Upon checking, they found the two deceased.
They had both been shot through the back of the head.
Forensic officers were able to recover two 9 mm shells from the floor of the back seat, while a bullet was found lodged in the dashboard on the driver’s side.
Speaking with Guardian Media from her Laventille Road, Febeau Village home yesterday, Peruza and her mother wept openly as they pleaded with members of the public to stop maligning her deceased son.
She said, “People don’t know what is going on and they just like to talk. They saying my child is a zesser and he is 15, but that is not true. My child was a loving child, he was a darling with a smile to light up the world.”
This was echoed by Keyon’s grandmother who recalled his passion for cooking lentils and dumplings and also making bake.
Revealing her son loved football and playing his PS4, Peruza said Keyon was the only child for both parents.
Peruza said, “His father would never put his child’s life in danger. His father loved the dirt his son walked on and for him, everything was his father.”
Desperate for answers, Peruza hugged a pillow to her chest as she questioned, “How do I live now? What am I to do? How do I carry on because he was my life, he was my life, he was my life.”
Usually celebrating her birthday one day ahead of her son on June 2, Peruza said she had promised Keyon a trip to Panama next year so he had been working on saving his spending money.
She tearfully revealed, “For Christmas, he asked everybody for the same thing, clothes and money.”
Admitting they were aware the senior Gill had been deported from Grenada last month, Peruza and her family were not able to share any information as to the father’s business dealings.
According to local police, Kevon Gill was arrested in Grenada on November 18, after US $20,000 was found on him and deemed to be proceeds of crime.
The information which was verified by Interpol officers also claimed Gill was convicted on November 22, following which he was deported to Trinidad on November 25.
Peruza and her family called for justice.His grandmother said, “Imagine it have monsters walking around this place and they leave them and kill our baby. He wasn’t selling drugs or guns and weed. I hope the Commissioner of Police deals with them.”
CoP: The Nation Needs To Be Concerned For Every Person Killed
Contacted for a comment on the murder rate which climbed past the 500 mark on Thursday, Police Commissioner Gary Griffith lashed out at those expressing concerns over the figure.
In a WhatsApp statement, Griffith said, “It should not only be a matter of concern that we have reached our 500th victim, but it should be a matter of concern to the nation for the 499 before that; as for every person killed, the nation has lost a citizen.
“The Police Service is doing all that it can, so obviously there is a concern.”
Turning the spotlight on those defending criminals, the COP added, “Instead of asking the police if we are concerned, I will ask that the same question be asked to those who defend, as their jobs, the cold-blooded murderers to get them back on the streets as quickly as possible, you should ask them that question.
“To those in the criminal justice system who grant bail to criminal elements, where bail is granted easier than getting doubles on a Saturday morning, who try to justify that, you should ask them their view.
Griffith said there was little or nothing police can do before someone is about to commit an act, “the best way to minimise such homicides is to implement policies before the action, which is what we have been doing. We have been arresting persons in possession of firearms, however, it becomes more difficult if not impossible when persons are held they are simply given a ‘red carpet’ to go back to streets to finish the job they started.”
Just 25 days ago, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and National Security Minister Stuart Young lamented the runaway crime rate, as they both attempted to use the murder rate to lobby support for the Bail Amendment Bill which was being debated in the Senate.
At the time, T&T’s murder rate was close to the 500 mark. The 2018 murder toll was 516.
The bill proposes denying bail for persons found with firearms for the first time including those trafficking weapons or possessing prohibited weapons such as artillery, automatic weapons, bombs, missiles, grenades.
Al-Rawi claimed T&T was at war and while firearms are being detected, culprits were not being caught.