Deborah Blackman's murder… Family still awaits justice, clings to hope

Deborah Blackman’s murder… Family still awaits justice, clings to hope

Aug 25, 2015 News

Murdered: Deborah Blackman

One year has passed and even with 22,954 views, the YouTube-posted surveillance video that captured the final seconds of Deborah Blackman’s life has left more questions than answers.
Thousands have seen this tall, seemingly young man cling to a gun, point it to the 48-year-old woman and calmly pull the trigger, yet he continues to evade the clutches of the police.
Blackman called ‘Debbie,’ 48, of Critchlow Circle, Tucville, had been employed as a waitress and cashier at the Delicious Chinese Restaurant on Durban Street for 15 years until the night of August 23, 2014, when she became the target for this unknown assailant.
She was shot around 19:10 hours that night as she attempted to run from the unmasked gunman. Though her killer is yet to be brought to justice, the family remains hopeful. The victim’s eldest daughter, Shelly Benny, 28, told Kaieteur News yesterday that this past year has been very rough without her mother.
To date, it still baffles the family as to who would do such a thing to their mother – a woman, who was only trying to earn a daily bread to maintain herself and her family. Blackman was the rock of the family – remembered as an honest, supportive and peaceful woman.
What hurts even more, Benny said, is the fact that her mother went beyond the call of duty that night. Blackman was not scheduled to work on August 23, 2014 but the restaurateurs were abroad and had left their 19-year-old son in charge of the business.
“She wasn’t supposed to work that night, but because they (the owners) were not there and the son is young, she went to work to help them out,” the 28-year-old remembered.
Even more painful, her mother was scheduled to be off-duty at 18:00 hours that night but she obliged when asked to work for two more hours. Less than an hour left for her time to leave, the gunman came in the restaurant, pretending to be a customer.
At the pull of a trigger, Blackman’s life ended. “That’s real drastic,” Benny said to Kaieteur News.
Blackman was a single-parent, having separated from her husband 18 years ago. “We were together all the time. It is very hard. You know what it is like? All the days of your life you know this woman: if your head is hurting you go to her, anything’s bothering you, you go to her. She is always the answer. Now who could we turn to? Nobody,” the daughter lamented.

Do you know this man? Video image of the killer

But the investigation has been slow and the answers less forthcoming.
“The last I heard from the police was when they got back the post mortem report. They called me in, because I witnessed the post mortem examination,” said Benny.
According to the daughter, the cause of death is recorded as a single gunshot wound that entered the right-side of her neck and exited from the left shoulder.
“Somebody out there must know the killer,” she insisted. “We were sure that something would have happened by now, because a man got caught on camera, and a year actually finish and nothing? That is sad. At least I know somebody must know this guy. He is not a mystery man,” the dead woman’s eldest daughter reflected.
“They just have to come forward. We just want to know ‘Why you did it? You didn’t rob her and she wasn’t a troublesome woman.’” Blackman, she said, played mother for other relatives as well, and her killing has left her family grieving to this day.
“The police are saying they have no clue about who it is, and they haven’t arrested anybody as yet. Somebody out there must know,” Benny stressed.
The video footage the police released last November seeking the public’s assistance showed a young man wearing a black cap with a red peak firing a gun through the bars of the counter where Blackman stood.
Moments before, he went to the counter and apparently made a purchase. Two other men then come to the counter, and one of them gave Blackman a $5,000 note. All the while, the footage shows the apparently nervous men constantly glancing around.
The first bullet, reportedly from a 9mm pistol, hit the 48–year-old mother of five on the shoulder. Wounded and apparently terrified, Blackman ran towards a door that would lead her further into the restaurant, but it was shut tight.
The gunman struck again and a bullet pierced Blackman’s throat, and she slumped to the ground. The gunman and his accomplices calmly left the restaurant. To date, they are still to be caught.
When Kaieteur News checked yesterday, the published video had attracted almost 23,000 viewers. At the time of its release, police had said that the footage they saw gave no indication that the gunman had attempted to rob the restaurant. This has led to questions as to whether the killing stemmed from a motive other than robbery.
Police recovered two warheads and a bullet casing from the scene.