Even as she mourns the loss of her son, who was stabbed to death this afternoon, a St Michael woman is praying for a way to finance his funeral.
A visibly shaken and frustrated Cheryl Stanford said she is struggling to understand what led to the death of her son, Antonio Stanford.
Antonio Stanford died after being stabbed today.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY she acknowledged that her son was not a perfect individual, but she said she does not believe he should have died in such tragic circumstances.
“If you hit he, he going to hit you back, but he is not the type of person that would come out and interfere with you. He would be here with a crowd and you would see he off somewhere by himself, he wouldn’t be in the midst. But sometimes he was too hard ears,” the elderly woman admitted.
Police said the 37-year-old man was stabbed in his upper chest during an altercation that occurred around 1:30 this afternoon at Phillip’s Road, St Stephen’s Hill, St Michael.
He was pronounced dead at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he had been transported to by a private vehicle.
The grieving mother said she was unaware of what could have triggered the altercation that took her son’s life.
“I didn’t know that that was going on but it happened and I can’t change it so be it. The Lord understands, the Lord know what he’s doing. I don’t feel that he deserved to [die] but it happened. I got to bury he now and I don’t know how, but I trust my God. He will make a way,” she professed.
Antonio fathered three children, 15-year-old Safrica, 13-year-old Jahmiah and seven-year-old Jahdain.
The children’s mother, Kamar Greenidge, who was with the deceased for 18 years, said she too was puzzled about the circumstances surrounding his death.
And while she disclosed that she and the deceased had a rocky relationship, she declared: “He was my man and he was my children father whether he was good or bad.”
Greenidge said she learnt about the incident while on the job.
“I was at work when it happened and where I work my phone don’t get service. A girl from out here is who get a fella that does work with me number and call he and tell he to tell me to come home. When I get there [QEH] and realize that he was dead I didn’t know how I was going to tell that to my children . . . I had to go for them. . .,” Greenidge recounted.
Police say another man, believed to be involved in the same incident, is currently undergoing treatment at the QEH.
He was taken there by ambulance after receiving multiple stab wounds.
anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb