Mother of murdered teenager speaks out after being ridiculed

The ridicule that Takisha DaSouza has received on social media and on radio talk shows has been substantial, but the mother of five claims the negative comments are unsubstantiated and downright lies.

Takisha is the mother of 13 year old Matthew DaSouza of Fairhall whose body was found on the Sion Hill beach on Monday, September 30, 2024 naked from the waist down, with head injuries. Initial investigations point to the teenager being killed while in the company of a group of friends and an 11 year old girl is assisting the police with their investigation.

Matthew is a well-known character on the streets of Kingstown, known for begging around business places in the capital. On Wednesday, Takisha, standing outside the morgue at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH), told SEARCHLIGHT she is devastated by what persons are saying about her, and by what happened to her son. The vendor who plies her trade in the Vegetable Market in Kingstown, said persons are taking her past and making it her present. She claimed that a lot of what is being said happened years ago and has nothing to do with the current situation.

She said persons are saying she gambles in Kingstown daily, a habit she said she left behind over 10 to 15 years ago. Also that people are saying that she burnt her daughter between the legs with an iron, a mix-up between her and a Vermont woman who was charged in August 2023.

Takisha said also that people are saying she was abusive to Matthew, and would frequently chase him away from her presence and take his money. The mother said that is far from the truth and she has witnesses to prove the opposite.

Takisha was jailed (for one year) in June, 2014 when she was a 23 year old unemployed mother of four. She was convicted of burning her then six year old son (not Matthew), with an iron, but said she has never laid a hand on any of her children after that incident.

Takisha said people also are saying that her daughter begs on the streets of Kingstown, but that is not the case as her youngest is enrolled as a student at the Fairhall Government School and goes to school regularly.

“People only speak what they don’t know…there are many people who can swear for me to say I take Matthew off the streets and take him home and send his brother to get him and he just runs away again.

“Matthew’s home is not abusive and his father does not hit him. I don’t beat none of my kids again since my first son, and I went to prison,” Takisha lamented on Wednesday.

She said Matthew, for some reason, did not want to remain at home, and she prefers that instead of bashing her, media outlets should interview her.

The mother of five said that over the years she has sought help from various outlets for Matthew but never received the assistance that she needed to reel Matthew into some sort of normal living. Tashike also told SEARCHLIGHT that last month, Matthew received a head injury when he was pushed to the ground in Kingstown, and when he was admitted to hospital, he ran away, checking himself out as she was at the facility taking him food. She added that what made matters worse is that Matthew was sent to the Liberty Lodge Boys’ Training Centre in Green Hill where he broke his arm in strange circumstances. A female relative who was with Takisha on Wednesday told SEARCHLIGHT that Matthew told her he was sexually assaulted while at Green Hill facility and ran away soon after. Takisha said Matthew told several persons this story but never told her about his sexual assault, though he did tell her about physical abuse.

“Matthew run out of Liberty Lodge to come home, and every time he come out I would call them for him,” Takisha said, while noting that when the COVID-19 pandemic started, Matthew ran away from Liberty Lodge and when she called the authorities, they said to keep him for a few days but when she eventually took him back,management refused to accept him because of the COVID-19 protocols . She said he was later refused entry altogether as he was said to have “sexual tendencies”.

“Is bare boys in Liberty Lodge it’s obvious you going to expect boys will be jerking (masturbating) and all kind of things,” Takisha said.

She also said that she has sought help from the police, the Salvation Army, and the Social Welfare Department among other places, to no avail.

“Yes, Matthew was begging. I brought Matthew, but I did not bring his mind. I tried my best. I had everybody who could help. I have people who try to help with Matthew, but Matthew just wanted the street life, probably it was nice for him.

“He enjoyed being on the road. I did many things for Matthew. I buy phone, I buy how much things. If Matthew want cornflakes, I would buy it,” the mother said.

“I don’t like how Vincentians [are] trying to chastise me when many of them are not better than me and don’t know anything about me,” Takisha said while tears began to flow.

Takisha said sometimes Matthew would be at home and if she’s distracted with chores, he would run away, sometimes jumping through a window and disappearing.

She said Matthew was at home on Saturday, September 28, but left, and the last time she saw him was Sunday evening September 29, when she and his brother went to Kingstown to look for him. As a van approached, she said he ran away from them in the Town Hill area.

“We never see Matthew again…I stayed at home to finish my daughter school project on Monday, and Monday evening when I was home is when I got the news,” ( of Matthew’s death), Takisha told SEARCHLIGHT.

“Late night I on the road looking for Matthew. Have to hire taxi to go to Fairhall to take back home Matthew. People don’t know…when I send Matthew school, Matthew by the bus stop hiding from the teachers.

“Many people don’t know my story about me and Matthew so I don’t know why they trying to make me look bad,” Takisha said as workers from the funeral home wheeled her son’s body from the morgue to a waiting vehicle in the Kingstown Cemetery.

“I’m not a bad mother. I have three girls, two boys. He is the

third one,” she said, adding that none of her other children is like Matthew.