Mother forgives her daughter’s teenage murderer

Earla Spencer, the mother of 15-year-old murder victim Moesha Spencer, who was stabbed in the heart in 2015, has forgiven the girl who fatally wounded her daughter.

The schoolgirl, who mortally wounded Moesha on Thursday, June 18, 2015 in front Moesha’s home at Lowmans Leeward, was 12 at the time of the incident.

Last week, at the High Court in Kingstown, Justice Kathy Ann Latchoo sentenced the juvenile to 12 years in prison and ordered that she continue her schooling, as she has been doing.

Justice Latchoo took into consideration that the girl had pleaded guilty on November 30 this year, which resulted in a reduction of four years in the sentence, taking it down to eight years in prison. However, the court has ordered periodic reports on the teenager’s behaviour and schooling progress and there is the possibility that she can be released after serving at least six years of the sentence.

On Wednesday, SEARCHLIGHT spoke to the dead girl’s mother at Murray’s Village at the home of her friend Stacey Lyttle.

Earla said that she was in court when the verdict was handed down and when she heard the verdict, she felt satisfied.

She did not expect that type of verdict, because many persons had told her that the defendant was a young girl and she would have been given a second chance.

“When I heard that,… I was troubled; I was crying a lot because I didn’t know what to expect and how to deal with the situation; but I go to church and I am a Christian, so I called my friends to pray for me.

“I was the first one that reach to the court that morning and a friend of mine send something to me and it said ‘God is on your side.’ So during that day, I asked him to take control of me, because I used to always be angry towards them [the killer and her family], so that day I don’t know, I think God take control; so when I went in the courthouse and they start to talk, I just listen everything,” explained Earla, while relaxing on a sofa.

The woman, who seemed at peace, said that usually when she saw her daughter’s killer, she would cry, but that day she didn’t cry.

“When the judge start to talk and then she said she give her eight years, I just felt satisfied; so when the case over, I start crying because the judge said that the parents will still live with the death; then I start to cry,” said Earla.

After the verdict, Earla exited the court, at which time the mother of the jailed child hugged her and apologized.

“…I hug her back then she said she sorry and I said I forgive you and then I was outside; then the daughter asked to see me and I wanted to talk to her too.

“This is the first time I speaking to her and she said she was sorry and I said ‘I already forgive you, but use the time that you have here and reflect on what you did to my daughter and come out and be a better person….’ Then from that day I just felt different,” said Earla.

She said that she feels that she got justice for her daughter’s killing.

“It ain’t going to bring my daughter back, but I hope that it change she [the killer] and make she a better person. Her mother may not think what I said to her I meant it, but I do mean it. I did not wish bad for her. I want her to be a better person, even if she take my daughter’s life,” Earla told SEARCHLIGHT.

She said that the day the girl pleaded guilty to murder — November 30, would have been Moesha’s 17th birthday.

“I did not have a good Christmas because Moesha was not around. I just think that the young lady’s mommy should glad that she still have her and be a good mother to her. Despite that she in prison, she still can be a good role model to her. I don’t have my daughter and it hurt me every day that I don’t have my daughter, because when I see my other daughter is like the other half of her gone. They are a year apart; they grew up like twins and it’s heartbreaking,” said Earla, whose other daughter was the one who wrestled the knife away from the girl who stabbed her sister on that fateful day.

Earla said that she has had to face the court proceedings by herself, because Moesha’s father couldn’t deal with it and do what she did.

Giving advice to the youths, Earla is encouraging persons to not use violence to solve their problems.

“Leave out the weapons. If you have a problem, talk about it or bring it to the parents and let them deal with it. You see, she lose her future and my daughter lose she life; they could have been here going to school and doing other things. When I saw her at the courthouse, she thought that she was coming out, but you can’t take a life and come out just like that. That’s why I told her to reflect and I hope she come out to be a better person.”

Earla is no stranger to heartbreak and tragedy, as Moesha was the second child she lost in tragic circumstances. In 2012, her 17-year-old son, Dominic ‘Damo’ Spencer, a form four student of the Intermediate High School (IHS), was the fifth person to commit suicide in St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2012. Moesha was also a student of the IHS.(LC)