‘Twelve Child’ succumbs to stab wound to chest

Vivian Williams writhed in agony, with tears streaming down her face, as her son’s lifeless body was removed from his Campden Park home last Tuesday.{{more}}

Had Delano David, also known as DD and Twelve Child, only listened to her warnings, he might have still been alive, moaned Williams.

The father of two, a boy and a girl, lost his life during a domestic dispute. His common-law wife, Marcraser Ballantyne, is assisting the police with their investigations. The couple had a relationship for the past five years, but had no children together.

A police source told SEARCHLIGHT Delano received a single stab wound to the left side of his chest.

Simone Baptiste, David’s neighbour, said Whitney, the daughter of the deceased, alerted her to the stabbing incident.

“When I was coming down, Twelve Child and his woman was still arguing. He was telling she to get out of his place and all dem kind ah vibes deh. Next thing you know, I was cleaning out and I see this little girl (Whitney) run come cross dey with she school blouse blood up. She said, ‘Oh God Sus, me daddy dead. Me daddy dead’,” said Baptiste, noting that Delano and his common-law wife had been engaged in an argument since some time after 7a.m. while she was on her way to a neighbour’s home to get some baby diapers.

“Me say how yuh daddy dead? So me end stick up dey and wandering if fuh go. My boyfriend turn to me now and tell me to go. When I go by Twelve Child this morning, I meet Twelve Child on the ground with his hand by his belly in bare blood.

“When I trying to talk to him, all he could say is ‘ah ka, ah ka’. I end up run over now to tell his parents Twelve Child dey pon his dead,” Baptiste recounted.

Meanwhile, Williams said she was at her home when someone broke the dreaded news to her.

She told SEARCHLIGHT: “I fed up warn my son with that girl dey. I fed up. The girl bin done move out. I don’t know wey she cum back for.”

She said she last spoke to her son on Sunday.

“I said DD, you bring back Marcraser fuh kill you. That is what I was telling DD and look now. That was just Sunday,” said Williams, claiming that she had an argument with her son before putting down the telephone.

“My son use to run by me. If my son was a violent man, he would have done kill Marcraser because she doing a lot of things,” said Williams.

“You know what my son tell me: ‘Ma me nah waan go ah jail’,” said Williams.

Clive David, Delano’s brother, said he received the news at approximately 8 a.m.

“I feel so weak I don’t even know what to say,” said Clive, as he broke down in tears. He added: “I can’t believe my brother is dead.”

“We never curse. We never argue,” said Clive, as he described Delano as a loving brother.

Nigel ‘Nature’ Stephenson, the New Democratic Party’s (NDP) candidate for South Leeward, at the scene of the murder said it is heartbreaking because he grew up with the persons affected.

“It’s real bad and this area particularly is becoming very popular for the wrong reasons,” said Stephenson.

He used the opportunity to advise the residents of the neighbourhood to exercise restraint rather than resorting to violence whenever they are confronted by social problems.