Jeffrey Barrow has been left shaken and traumatised by the violent ordeal he endured on Thursday at the hands of a robber along Belmont Road, St Michael.
Such was the brutality of the attack that the 65-year-old said he now lives in fear of venturing out. Visions of the incident now replay in his mind and he is haunted by the assailant’s voice.
Barrow said he has barely slept since that traumatic day and is struggling with the pain of his injuries.
He replayed the vicious attack when the Saturday Sun visited him at a shop near his home in St George yesterday evening. Sitting among friends, he was still visibly shaken by the incident after being discharged from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital yesterday.
His left eye was heavily swollen and bloodshot and a large bandage concealed several stitches to the left side of the face.
Barrow, who previously had difficulties with his vision, said his eyes were constantly watering and he expressed concern that the injuries might render him blind.
“The doctor said I might even have fractures. Eating is very hard; they gave me something to eat at the hospital and I could not eat it. They told me that I actually got to go and see the ear and nose specialist next week. I have to go back to the clinic Tuesday, then I have to go Thursday again to get these stitches removed,” he said.
Video footage of the attack circulated on social media on the day the assault occurred, drawing the ire of Barbadians who condemned the battering of an elderly citizen.
Barrow recalled how he went to the Belmont Road ATM of the Barbados Public Workers’ Cooperative Credit Union to make a withdrawal. After conducting his business, he went outside, where the would-be assailant pretended to assist him.
“One of the guards outside the credit union always helps me because of my sight problem, so I went out in the main yard hoping that I could see someone that I know so I could get a ride to Town outside the terminal by Jordan’s Supermarket.
“After waiting there 15 to 20 minutes, I wasn’t successful, so I decide to go through the main gate, go on the main road where I can catch a bus going to the bus terminal.
“So, he [the assailant] probably realised that I was struggling to get a ride. So he came to the car park to the side and ask if I need a lift. I said I wouldn’t mind a lift but I wanted to get down by Jordan’s Supermarket. He said, ‘Come, I will take you’.”
The assailant told him his car was at a nearby car park but Barrow noticed he turned in a different direction while escorting him, prompting him to question where he was taking him.
“I asked him, ‘Where the car is? You told me you had a car. You like you don’t have a car, you like you want to rob me’. So I said, ‘Let go of my hand, man’.”
Barrow said he broke away from the man and headed towards the main entrance of the credit union where he got a helping hand from a woman. He returned to a nearby bus stop hoping to get a bus to The City when the man sprung up on him and threatened to rob him.
“He cursed and said, ‘You idiot, I tried to help you and you didn’t want any help but you see the money you got, I want that now’. I say, ‘I don’t owe you anything, I don’t even know you’.
“Then a scuffle ensued and I got an elbow punch from him and a kick, but he’s younger than me, so he got the better of me and knocked me to the ground,” he said.
“I’m still traumatised. At first, I put up a fight, but when you sit back and you realise that I could be a dead man . . . plus he was determined, but after he punched me and saw blood, he ran off,” Barrow added.
Some members of the public questioned the inaction from bystanders who video recorded the incident or looked on without offering assistance. In the video, Barrow can be heard crying out: “This man rob me of my money and gone. Nobody ain’t helping me?”
Reflecting on that moment, Barrow said “society changed in Barbados” and questioned why no one would at least speak out or try to help.
“Yes, people would tell me they fear if the assailant have a gun and they don’t want to be shot. But if a man can stop and videotape it, you mean he couldn’t even raise his voice and say, ‘Look, why you troubling the man for, leave the man?’”
“My sister was saying she passed the road 15 minutes before it happened. Obviously, if she passed, she would have tried to help or assist, but I have found that society in this country, people not as caring or as friendly as they used to be.
“I was unfaired yesterday [Thursday]. We’ve got to bring these criminals to justice; we have to. It was my turn yesterday, it could be yours tomorrow or his yesterday. Where does the buck end?” he asked.
Barrow thanked two women who stayed with him until medical personnel arrived.
Only last month, Barrow was highlighted in the April 14 It Matters To Maria column in the Daily Nation when he appealed for a bus stop to be erected near his home after it fell three years ago, and the area was repeatedly passed by drivers who insisted there was no bus stop there.
The situation had left him to stumble in the dark for a long distance on a busy road with no sidewalks, an already dangerous task made riskier due to his visual impairment. On one of those occasions when he was left quite a distance away from home, Barrow was hit by the door of bus, which shut on him and banged his shoulder as he made his exit.
Barrow said he had to feel his way along the dark road in pain, fearing his life was in danger. Despite complaints to the Transport Board, he has yet to receive any compensation from its insurance company.
Within days of the story being published, the Ministry of Transport and Works not only replaced the bus stop, but also debushed the area.
Despite these incidents and the fresh wounds from his robbery, Barrow is thankful he is still alive.
“I will turn 66 in December. The support from the public, my friends, family and children – I have four grandchildren that I love so much – I have to thank God because I could be a goner,” he said.
In a statement, Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey condemned the incident.
“As a Minister of Government, father and a representative of the people, I must place on record my profound shock and absolute horror at the senseless and despicable act of violence that circulated across social media . . . against one of our senior citizens,” he said.
“My ministry stands ready to open our social services to this gentleman and we will work assiduously to ensure that he receives the assistance he needs to help him overcome this troubling ordeal.”
Police yesterday reported that they had a person of interest in custody regarding the assault and robbery.
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