The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

THE holiday season, a time typically filled with joy and family gatherings, has turned into a period of mourning for some families in The Bahamas who have lost loved ones to gun violence.

Two women, Natasha Parker and Snovia Hepburn, who each lost loved ones in recent shootings, opened up about the grief and pain their families are experiencing, a contrast against with the season’s festive celebrations. 

Natasha Parker, the mother of 32-year-old Marlon Darling, who was fatally shot at a barbershop on Bernard Road on December 21, described her family’s inability to celebrate Christmas after his untimely death.

“It wasn’t good. I didn’t have a good Christmas because he got killed on the 21st and Christmas was almost here,” she said.

“In fact, today gone just made a week since he passed.”

“It wasn’t no Christmas because ain’t nobody coulda eat. Ain’t nobody had no appetite. You know what it is to lose a child? And this is my first time ever losing a child. It ain’t like you ain’t know your child. Your child was humble and quiet, and for someone to just walk into the shop and just kill them? I mean, how else do you explain? Do you accept that? I don’t know. I don’t know how mothers do it, but that was an experience for me. That was a blow. That was a blow.”

The family is now preparing for Marlon’s funeral, but even this has been fraught with delays as they await the body.

Despite her heartbreak, Ms Parker is determined to support Marlon’s unborn child and the child’s mother. She said that her grandchild will have the support of both families, including Marlon’s three brothers.

For Snovia Hepburn, the partner of 34-year-old Reynaldo Rolle, who was killed in a separate shooting on Plane Street in Pinewood Gardens on November 30, the holiday season was equally devastating. 

Ms Hepburn, who is raising the couple’s children, discussed how her youngest son grapples with his father’s absence.

“My baby, the little one, he always like, ‘Mommy, my daddy at the hospital,’” she said, her voice breaking with emotion. 

“And after time passes and he doesn’t see his dad, you know, he starts to ask questions.”

Rolle, who was described as a devoted family man, had purchased Christmas gifts for his children before his death. 

Ms Hepburn made sure they received those presents, preserving his memory and the sense of his love for them.

“He actually purchased their gifts that morning. He passed that night,” she said.

“I made sure that they knew that their gifts were from him. I didn’t wrap them. It wasn’t an emotional thing for me, so I did not want to do that, but I let them know that they were from him.”

The grieving mother took her children to the carnival on Christmas evening, hoping to give them a semblance of joy despite the sorrow.

“I said I didn’t want to ruin their holiday,” she said.

The family also held a vigil for Rolle, where friends and relatives spoke fondly of his life and the importance of forgiveness. 

“He was a family person, he was a community person, he was just — he was a people’s person,” Ms Hepburn said.