Unable to bear the overwhelming agony and sadness since her first born, nine-year-old Cyon Paul, was shot dead 50 days ago, single mother Safiya Williams has moved out of the house.
“Even though I know he is dead, when I wake up in the morning I look on his bed to see if I see him. I can’t even function right now,” said Safiya Williams who last week moved downstairs her mother’s house which is situated opposite hers.
Williams said the pain of losing her son intensifies whenever the thought crosses her mind that the people responsible for taking his life are freely roaming the streets.
Cyon was shot after he left his Byron Street, La Romaine, home on the night of August 19 to purchase hotdogs at a nearby food cart on the main road. He never made it back home after he was hit by a stray bullet.
“My son is dead and nothing going on. People make promises and nothing. I want to know what is going on. I just want justice for my son,” said Williams. She said her seven-year-old daughter Tyra Richards is also grieving for her brother.
“She misses him so much. Everyday she comes from school she asks me ‘Mummy when Cyon coming home?’ She will say things like ‘Mummy when I turn I see Cyon’ or ‘He tell me he will help me with school.’” She said it was really hard to send her daughter to school without Cyon when school reopened in September.
Williams said she believes Cyon is still with them.
“The other night I was sleeping; the window was locked and the fan was off but I feel a cold breeze. I feel like he is around and I just start to talk to him. I read my Bible and I say my prayers.
“Every morning I wake up I say a prayer and I buy rum. No one knows how I am feeling.”
Williams said she has not gone in search for a job because of her emotional state.
“I crying everyday. All I studying is my child. I remember the times we had. He always smiling, making joke and have me laughing.”
When he died they were promised counselling, but no one came.
“We need help. I wish I could get a food card or something to help us get by.” Williams said she keeps the jar with her son’s ashes in her bedroom and kisses it every morning.
“I just want to keep him close. I wash his clothes the other day. I cannot give it away.” She said she spent her son’s 10th birthday on September 25 and her birthday on September 30 crying.
“We were going to have a big celebration for both of us. We would have enjoyed this birthday the most,” she said. Williams said the police have not contacted her about the case in a long time.
“They said they have a video. I have not even seen it,” she said.
Police have appealed for anyone with information on Cyon’s murder to come forward.