BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE young man who was shot while in the comfort of his Cardin Avenue home on Monday, September 28, 2009, will no longer be able to walk due to spinal injury.
Twenty-three-year-old Antonio Richards, who is currently warded in the Joseph N France General Hospital, was shot on the right side of his chest and the bullet exited just below the left side of his neck.
Speaking with SKNVibes on Monday (Oct. 5), the bed-ridden shooting victim said he was asleep on a couch when he heard the sound of a single gunshot and immediately felt a burning sensation in his chest.
“I was sleeping on the couch when my grandmother went outside to use the bathroom. The house was in darkness and she had left the door open. Suddenly I hear the sound of a gunshot and I felt a pain on the right side of my chest. I got up from the couch in an attempt to turn on the light but my feet folded under me. I however reached the switch and turned on the light but whoever shot me had already disappeared from the house.”
Richards declared that neither he nor his grandmother had seen who shot him. When asked if he had any previous altercation with anyone or if he knew anyone who wanted him killed, maimed or disabled, Richards replied in the negative.
Richards explained that his Kittitian-born grandmother is a citizen of St. Thomas but resides in St. Croix. He said that she arrived on St. Kitts in July 2009 to seek medical attention and was residing at his residence while under medication.
“My house is small, but not too small to accommodate my sick grandmother. Since her arrival for medical treatment in July, I gave her my bed and I used to sleep on a couch. Many days, sometimes for an entire week, I would be absent from work, with permission, to attend to my grandmother. She took care of me from since infancy; therefore, I knew I had a duty to perform in attending to her. But now that I’m afflicted I can no longer do so if she takes ill again.”
He added that since the incident, his grandmother had returned to St. Croix.
Recounting his childhood days, a visibly disenchanted Richards said it was packed with bitter memories. He said that he has three brothers and one sister. Two of his younger brothers were born in St. Croix, where they live there with his mother while the other brother and sister reside in St. Kitts.
He said that at an early age his mother had left St. Kitts for St. Croix to better her life and he was living with an aunt while attending Dr. William Connor Primary School. He graduated from there to Basseterre Junior High and later to Basseterre Senior High School. However, circumstances forced him to drop out in the fourth form and he sought employ as a labourer in the construction field.
Richards at that time was still living at his aunt, but when his grandmother and mother returned to St. Kitts in 2000, he removed to a house that his grandmother had rented in Millionaire Street.
“But my grandmother and my mother returned to St. Croix in 2001 and they left me in the house with my uncle. However, fire destroyed the house and I went to live with my brother’s people”.
Richards became a father soon after his 18th birth anniversary and he, his child and its mother had moved into one of his girlfriend’s relatives house in Cardin Avenue. However, they had to move because the owners said they wanted the house.
“My girlfriend moved back to her mother’s home with my daughter and a female friend knew of my situation and she told me that I could live in the small house behind her home. It is the same house in which I was shot.”
He declared that his mother is not in a position to assist him because she had recently been involved in a motor accident in St. Croix, which resulted in both her legs being broken and she is still suffering from head injuries. “But my father, who I haven’t been in contact with for quite some time, heard what happened to me and I know that he will come to my rescue”.
Richards said he was concerned about his daughter’s future and, knowing that he was a high school dropout, last year he enlisted on the YES programme. “I did a course in the electrical field and was employed at Needsmust Power Station”.
“Because of the increase in crime and wanting the best for my daughter, I went to Barbados early in September to secure a visa to be with my grandmother in St. Croix, but I was denied. I therefore, returned to St. Kitts and decided that I would try to get a house from NHC so that me, my daughter and her mother would live together. Today, I am unable to walk. I was told by the doctor that I would never walk again. This is the situation I’m currently in. My dreams are shattered and I cannot provide for my four-year-old kid,” he concluded.
