Following two hits on his life, Marlon Lynch, the man wrongfully accused of killing nine-year-old Cyon Paul yesterday went into hiding after he surrendered to the San Fernando police and was subsequently released after he was questioned.
But insisting he was never responsible for the child’s murder, Lynch said he was fond of Cyon and would never have pulled the trigger which ended the little boy’s life.
As rumours spread of his alleged involvement in the murder, Lynch, 35, went to the San Fernando Homicide Bureau after midday yesterday and spoke to investigators.
He left the police station around 3.30 pm after which he spoke to the T&T Guardian about the terror he had been experiencing since the rumour spread that he was responsible for the child’s death.
Lynch revealed that two hits were made on his life over the past week. The first occurred on the night Cyon died last Friday and the second on Sunday night when he was almost ran off the road by unknown gunmen who fired a volley of gunshots behind his Nissan B14 car.
Lynch said the bullet which killed Cyon was probably meant for him and his partner after they had a disagreement with another group of men some time ago.
Recalling the events surrounding Cyon’s murder, Lynch said he and his friends were liming on the roadside near the Torque Turn bar at Southern Main Road, La Romaine, last Friday night when “wild bullets” started to fire.
“I don’t know where it came from. Maybe someone was hiding and started to fire or maybe it came from someone who was in a car. I don’t know but when I heard the gunshots I started to run,” Lynch said.
He said thats was probably why people blamed him for the child’s murder.
“People are always passing and shooting my partner’s house, so maybe when the other team heard we liming there at the bar they set up their network and start to shoot at us. The little youth man get stick up in the altercation. We heard three explosions. I really think those bullets could have been meant for us but I am not sure.”
Saying he only wanted to clear his name, Lynch said he was relieved when he spoke with the police yesterday.
“I know they believed me because they spoke with other people as well. They told me they will do more investigations and get back to me,” Lynch added.
He said on Sunday he went to a Reggae Sunday lime in Couva when he was attacked.
“When I done lime and come down the road, they followed me down the highway and I decide to take the fast road to drop off my friend.
“We ended up on the Tasker Road heading to Princes Town and then suddenly a white Totoya Axio pulled out and block my car completely. I see gunmen start to jump out and I graze way their car and they started to shoot at my car. I drove straight to Princes Town station. That was around 2 am,” Lynch said.
Saying he was going into hiding in the wake of the attacks, Lynch said he hoped the police could offer him some protection.
“I have to lay low. I work taxi and now I cannot go and work taxi because of this. I want people to understand that it was not me who killed that little boy. I have three children and they are not with me. I know vigilantes want to kill me,” Lynch said.
Saying he was worried about the safety of his family, Lynch said: “They have nowhere to go. I want the police to protect us.”
Remembering Cyon, whose funeral was yesterday, Lynch described him as a “nice good mannered little boy.
“To hear that this happened to him was really sad. He was innocent. He got caught in the gunfire. He was a favourite and everybody liked him. I was never involved in that and I want police to know this,” he said.
Princes Town police confirmed yesterday that they received a report of a shooting along the M2 Ring Road.
Paul, a First Standard pupil of the La Romaine RC School, lived with his mother, Safiya Williams, at Byron Street, La Romaine. Around 9 pm last Friday, he was walking to a hotdog stall near his home, in the company of a 13-year-old cousin, when he was shot.