(Trinidad Guardian) The mother of a 28-year-old woman who was gunned down in Carenage says she is willing to forgive her daughter’s killers as she is doing her part to break the cycle of hate in the country.
Early Sunday morning, what should have been a time of celebration turned tragic when Dana Joyles and her boyfriend, Nayland Roberts-Glasgow, 21, were shot dead at Upper Abbe Poujade Street. The couple was celebrating Joyles’ 28th birthday.
Speaking with Guardian Media at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, Joyles’ mother, Evelyn Joyles-Lewis, said despite the grief and confusion she felt, she was willing to forgive the killers.
Referring to her daughter’s three sons, ages one, eight and ten years old, Joyles-Lewis said she preferred to forgive the perpetrators for their sake, in order to break the cycle of hatred.
“For the remaining time I have to be on the face of the Earth and see about those children, I have to forgive. I cannot bring up those boys with hate. I cannot bring them up with hate to say you should hate the person that took out your mother.
“Hate is just hate. I don’t want my grandchildren to grow up with hate. I didn’t even raise my daughter to live with hate,” she said.
Joyles-Lewis said her daughter and her boyfriend were returning from a birthday lime.
She lamented how unpredictable violence in T&T had become, noting that such incidents happened without warning, adding that her daughter was killed in her own neighbourhood.
“I thought Dana was safe because she grew up in Carenage. Nobody would think that you would die in your own area because everybody knows everybody.
“You would never think that could happen to you in your own neighbourhood. What else can you say? Put on bulletproof (armour) from your head to your toes?”
Guardian Media also spoke with Pamela Roberts-Glasgow, the mother of Nayland Roberts-Glasgow who said she did not know her son to be involved in any criminal activities.
She said he worked hard to provide for himself and the one-year-old son he shared with Joyles.
She said her son worked as a tattoo artist and part-time mechanic.
Roberts-Glasgow said while she knew her son was not targeted by gunmen, she continued to warn him about the possibility of stray bullets and urged him to be careful when venturing far from home.
“When my son is outside, whether they go on Ariapita Avenue to lime, he may go on a private job, I used to call him non-stop.
“I used to ask him, ‘Where you is boy?’ I always used to ask him if he got back home,” the grieving mother said.
In May 2022, 24-year-old Stephanie Calbio was stabbed to death by another woman in Upper Abbe Poujade Street.
Calbio was in a relationship with one of Roberts-Glasgow’s sons who is currently incarcerated. Calbio is the mother of her granddaughter.
Roberts-Glasgow lamented the spate of violence, noting that she must now care for both grandchildren and vowed to help Joyles’ family with the responsibility of raising her grandson.
“Now I have to share the responsibility, I can’t leave this up to Dana’s family alone. I have two grandchildren who don’t have parents,” she lamented.
Sources said the couple’s murders may have been related to an ongoing gang war and while Roberts-Glasgow may not have been involved directly, he and Joyles may have been murdered to send a message.
Police from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region I are continuing enquiries.
As of Monday afternoon, there were 334 murders for the year thus far compared to 324 for the same period last year.