Corey, murdered alongside Simone Colleymore

If you stay in shit long enough, you will stop smelling it.

Our ravishing crime rate and stories of heartless murders, have desensitized us. With just 35 days in the year, over 156 murders have been committed. 156 murders, mean that on average 156 families have been impacted, with an average of 5 persons per household, that means 780 persons so far in 2018, have experienced the PAIN, HOPELESSNESS,and WHAT-IFS that come with losing someone . When we lose a loved one, we are bound to experience a few days of mourning, some lasting longer for others. Each person who has interacted with the now violently deceased will remember them, their hopes, their experiences and past, they will experience a whole lot of ‘if-only’s’.

This is part of the process, and then we all move on. Some of us don’t ever move on, as children are now left without a parent. The fabric of our families once again ripped to shreds, in some way at least for another generation.

CRIME IS A CYCLE OF PAIN
Crime generates loss, and loss leads its way to pain and too many what-ifs, which finds its way back to the decision of who/what is created after the loss, and if more often that not…leads to more crime, which generates more loss, and loss leads to pain…this is the unfortunate and unending cycle of Crime.

Corey was murdered alongside Simone Colleymore-Best

If you are anything like me…then your cab driver is more than just a driver. It’s the person you entrust with your safety, the person you will wait for even when they lie to you about how long it will take for them to reach your location. Your cab driver becomes your friend, a listening ear…even a shoulder to cry on. Corey, was my driver. He was very busy too as many other women preferred Corey to drive them around Kingston. You were guaranteed a smile on your face with Corey, and if it was one of those days when he was miserably and cussing, he made sure you had lots of candy and great music to enjoy. Corey, originated from Rockfort and we held many conversations about Kingston 2 the business opportunities, the culture, the youth and the guns. I listened beaming with pride of how he changed his own life, and eventually moved away from the influence of Rockfort, putting away his past and now earning money. We laughed about how peaceful it felt to wake up in the serene hills of Upper St. Andrew, where he now lived a happy family life with woman and kids, way above even the air of the drama. We talked about his struggles with buying his new car. He came out the car and posed on it, told me in jest to take his picture beside his brand new car…’Up di ting’. He told me how he did it, how he saved and passed funds through his bank account to get the bank to lend him the money to buy the car, as the banks don’t lend to people like him. He told me of his plans to pay off the 5 year loan in 2 years and buy another car to increase his fleet. He had dreams that were made into plans, that was being implemented. He was happy and his happiness, positivity and determination was infectious.

Corey was no coward, he was a shotta, he knew the badman, gunman life and was a typical Jamaican man…an interesting almost sporadic but entertaining mix of aggression and tenderness. Don’t mess Corey, ‘him ah puppy..him a lion’. So when, I heard that Corey was murdered in his car, I figured it could have been an issue of road rage that he wasn’t backing down from.

It was really a second level shock to find out that he was the taxi-driver murdered along with Simone Colleymore. I bet the bad-word he said wasn’t the usual smooth one, as he saw the men open fire on the car, he just saved to buy. I can bet his mind was on his kids and his wife, who he just bragged to me about, as they headed out to their all-inclusive weekend vacation.

Corey’s identity is not important to the Colleymore story, so much his name was never even mentioned.

Corey was a product of the ghetto, who had changed his life, who had confronted his issues of family and was there for his kids, a great father. He was a very hard worker, he barely slept as he wanted to make money to secure a future for his kids, to help them find a way out of poverty.

Corey certainly does not deserve to be where he is today. He died an innocent victim to a heartless evil crime. Simone’s kids left without a mother, Corey’s kids without a father, his wife without a good man.

The cycle flows on.

We need to intercept the pain.
1) Media campaigns should be commissioned by the government and private sector, to flood our airwaves and information access points with positive clips and links to resources to get help to ease our pain.
2) Corey’s children should given free education and other assistance
3) Families should be provided with counselling sessions…it should be mandatory to speak with someone who will professionally respond to their issues.
4) Create a social media counselling platform, linking people who need a listening ear anonymously

RIP MI GENNA!!!