Two youths die in separate attacks

Two mothers from neighbouring communities are currently making funeral arrangements for their young sons, who were both killed in separate violent attacks over the weekend.

Dead is 23-year-old Ranique Phillips of Chester Cottage, who was killed on May 23 around 5 a.m., during a knife attack while at a popular karaoke house in Byera.{{more}}

Reports are that Phillips, a bartender by profession, got into an argument with another young man at the venue, and was subsequently attacked by others, and sustained knife wounds about his body.

He was stabbed once on the left side of his neck, the right side of his chest, his left hand and twice in the back.

Phillips was rushed to the Georgetown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Less than 48 hours later and less than five miles away, in the village of Langley Park in Georgetown, 22-year-old Orantel Clarke was shot in the lower right side of his abdomen.

The young man was ambushed at approximately 12:44 a.m., while walking along a dirt track in the community, and died on the spot from the blast.

Clarke’s mother Irma, in an interview with SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, said that the family has been shaken to the core by her son’s murder, since Orantel, also known as “Keron” and “Barrel,” was not known as a troublemaker.

“It’s hard for me because I can’t sleep since this thing happened. I can’t hold up; his father bawling over the loss of his first child. I feel real hurt.

“It hurt me that I see him come and bring his child and then he gone and get shoot. He used to take care of his baby. He used to help me out in the home,” Clarke said.

She related that her son, who worked in the construction industry in Canouan, had come home for a short time at 10 that night to drop off his 17-month-old daughter Aamira, then went out again.

She said that she heard the explosion of the gunshot just before 1 a.m., then received a phone call informing her that her son was dead.

“The other day he come and tell me somebody meet him and threaten him, and show him a gun in dem waist and tell him this ah way he have for him, and I told him to go to the (police) station and make a report, but he did not go.

“He wasn’t any aggressive person. He don’t get in nothing. He don’t trouble people more than he would make his little joke.”

Irma admitted that years ago, her son was assaulted by another villager, and he defended himself by inflicting a cutlass chop on his assailant.

The matter was reported to the police, but the victim refused to proceed with a court case.

Two persons have been assisting police with their investigations into the matter, and Clarke and other family members are hoping that justice would be served for their slain relative.

Also hoping for justice for their relative is the family of Phillips, also known as “Waddo” or “Gator.”

His mother Doris and sister Normanise visited SEARCHLIGHT’s office on Wednesday, where they expressed grief and anger over the young man’s death, whom they believe was murdered as a result of envy.

Doris, who currently resides in Arnos Vale, said that she had last seen her son on May 10. She stated she had received word that her second of four children had gone to the karaoke, where he was brutally attacked.

She said that she learned that he had died, after overhearing a conversation between her daughter and another son, since they did not want to tell her that he had passed away.

“When I hear them talking, I just feel funny. When they call back and said he dead, I said ‘oh gawd, Waddo dead, my Waddo gone.’ I just drop off the bed and dey ah roll. I say ‘why they kill Waddo?’

“Ranique (Phillips) was a loving and caring and sharing person; he was always ready to work for everybody. He was cheerful, he was not troublesome, he always keep away from confrontation,” she said.

Phillips’s sister refuted rumours that her brother was a gang memer, and that his killing was a gang related incident.

She said that persons in the community were resentful that the family had been prospering, and were motivated by others to plan and execute her brother.

“I would like to see justice for my brother.

“God is not sleeping, and in time justice will come through for us,” Normanise said.

“I will really miss him because to see how he just get cut off so sudden. I didn’t even get to talk to him. I really want to see justice for my son. It affecting me real bad. I have to Ask God to give me strength because losing a son Is real hard,” Doris added.

Police reports say that a group of persons are assisting with investigations in Phillips’ killing.