Teen Violence Continues

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TOO YOUNG TO DIE

Cries of anguish: teen brothers killed for cellphone               

By Gyasi Gonzales gyasi.gonzales@trinidadexpress.com

Story Created: Jun 24, 2013 at 9:08 PM ECT

Story Updated: Jun 24, 2013 at 11:31 PM ECT 

TWO TEENAGE brothers are dead while police hunt for two other teenage suspects following the murders of the brothers over a cellphone and a tablet PC on Sunday night in Aranjuez.

Dead are Jafar Kadir, 17, and his brother, Arshad, 16.

The brothers lived with their mother and father at Boys Lane, D’Abadie. The last time their parents heard from them was around 9 p.m. on Sunday when they telephoned to say they would be home a bit late.

According to the boys’ uncle, Hafeez Kadir, the boys had gone to their mosque known as the Nur E Islam Mosque in El Socorro earlier on Sunday. Around 7 p.m., they went over to the Aranjuez Savannah to lime with friends and look at a game of football.

After calling their home to say they would be in late, they continued watching the game when around 9.15 p.m. they were approached by two young robbers armed with knives.

At the time, both Jafar and Arshad were playing with their electronic devices and the two bandits who were just as young as the group they were robbing told them to hand over the items, eyewitnesses told police.

According to Hafeez Kadir, the brothers were not the kind of boys to “back down” and according to the police, the brothers, along with their friends, fought violently with the two robbers during which Jafar and Arshad Kadir were stabbed.

Another friend of theirs, Khalil Mohammed, was also stabbed.

The robbers escaped with a BlackBerry smartphone and a tablet PC by running east through the Aranjuez Savannah and through Mt Lambert.

The Kadir brothers, along with Mohammed, were taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex where the brothers died while being treated.

Mohammed was treated and discharged.

At the Forensic Science Centre yesterday, the boys’ father, an emotional Khalil Mohammed, tightly hugged one of his close friends who came to visit him at the centre. He politely declined to be interviewed.

Their uncle, Hafeez, said he was at a house lime with friends in Cunupia when he got the call about the boys. He said by the time he got to the hospital they had already died.

“The family taking it real hard and personally it hit me real hard,” he said.

He said the boys were both very devout Muslims and attended mosque several times a week. He said Arshad was supposed to have an exam yesterday while his elder brother, Jafar, who worked sometimes at an El Socorro hardware store, was scheduled to repeat both Maths and English A soon, having graduated from the Barataria Secondary School without these passes.

“They were ambitious young boys,” beamed their uncle.

He advised other parents to pay closer attention to the lives of their children. 

“All of us need to encourage them go back to the mosque, temple or church as the parents need to do more. I mean there are all sorts of programmes out there for young people,” he said.

He added that the family’s first reaction was for revenge but “what will that do because when that happens more (misguided) youths will come. I mean the family is holding up on the outside but they are being eaten up on the inside. It is a very sad time for us,” he said.

(Trinidad Express, June 24th. 2013)

Mahogany Coconut Group Comment:

All Caribbean citizens and governments must work to eliminate the growing trend of teen violence in the region.These effforts must now move to the front burner of regional social policy.

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