STOP THE VIOLENCE SLAIN YOUTH’S PARENTS SAY

The parents of slain youth Gavin Edwards, also known as “Fat Head” or “Big League” are making an appeal for violence to end, after a violent confrontation resulted in their son’s death on Monday night.
Police reports state that Edwards, of Yorks, was stabbed in the abdomen and later died at the Mount St John’s Medical Centre, following an alleged altercation with 21-year-old Anthony Joseph, in the Point. The police claim that Edwards had wounded Joseph in the head with an object, and Anthony retaliated.
“Only the Father knows best and He [doesn’t] give you more than you can bear. I am not [vexed] with Anthony but the circumstances could have been avoided. It is time we realise young people’s tempers are high; they don’t have any sense. If one person went and said ‘peace’ it would not have gone this far, but we black people love ugly,” said Carolyn Joseph, the mother of the deceased.
She added that while she grieves the tragic death of her second child, she could not help but feel sorry for the friend and cousin who was involved in the scuffle with Edwards and who is also injured.
“I love Anthony like my son. If we as the older ones had stopped it, then no one would be crying or have a child to bury and nobody would be going to 1735 [prison], but some of us are too selfish. I’m going to feel it when he goes to prison because he only has his father; his mother died.”
The grieving mother added that although doctors told her they tried to save her son’s life and she has since seen him lying in the morgue, she is struggling to accept that the 25-year-old is really dead.
The Yorks woman recounted the last moment she shared with the deceased, after she had met on the street and reminded him that he was responsible for washing the dishes. Carolyn said they had both laughed when he told her he already did the chore.
And Edwards’ father became emotional when talking about the death of his first of nine children.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)