Mother, family of murdered 11-year-old speak out

The mother who was wounded and left to mourn the killing of her daughter and friend during a gun attack last month is speaking out for the first time since the November 22 incident.

“She was an innocent child. There’s nothing that I can do, so I’ll just leave it up to God,” Ramona Moses lamented in an exclusive interview with BVI News Online at a candlelight vigil in Road Town this week.

About 9:30 on the night of the chilling double-murder, Ramona, her daughter Trinity, and Franklin Penn were travelling in a vehicle on the West End public road when men on motor scooters reportedly drove up beside them.

The men fired several shots inside the vehicle before speeding off. Trinity and Penn were later pronounced dead at hospital due to injuries sustained in the attack. Ramona was treated for injuries.

Why?

While recounting the event of the fateful Wednesday evening, the mother said she is still in shock.

“We were just going for a drive. I pretty much am [in shock] and I am still trying to understand why it happened.”

“I will just leave that up to God. Up to now I cannot process and understand what happened and why it did. It’s a little too much for me to bear, to be honest with you.” the mother said.

Ramona said as far as her injuries are concerned, she is simply “trying”; noting that she is grateful for the support shown by the public since the incident.

“It’s good to know that there are people out there who care and who came out, and it really warms my heart even though mentally, I am in another place. It is good to know people care.”

Grandfather

Meanwhile, at the vigil, Rudolph Moses who is grandfather to 11-year-old Trinity put on a brave face to read a thank you letter on behalf of a grief-stricken Ramona, as she sat a short distance away inside a motor vehicle.

Rudolph went on to state that he hopes no other child in the territory suffers a similar fate to his granddaughter.

“The way Trinity came out of this world was not needed and I pray and hope on behalf of our entire family that there be no other Trinity’s in the British Virgin Islands or any other community,” he said at the vigil.

The grandfather, who noted that he and his wife worked in the public sector for several years before returning to their native country Guyana, said their one wish was for the territory to remain a peaceful place.

“Both of us have worked beyond the call of duty and we never asked for much. But all I had wanted and I am sure she had wanted, and the family as well, was for everybody to live peacefully in the BVI.”

Aunt

Trinity’s Aunt, Sheryl Moses recounted spending two months with her niece after Hurricane Irma, indicating that she never expected it would have been their last moments together.

She used the opportunity to urge parents to appreciate and love their children more.

“Parents, your children are precious, they are only lent to us for a short period of time. No one knows which day you will have to give them up. We learned that the hard way, we took everything for granted. We still have other children in our family and I am sorry to say that situations like this it has made us realize how precious those lives are. Tonight, I would implore you to hug your kids, tell them you love them because no one knows what the future brings,” she said.