A MOVE to another country seeking a better life did not turn out well for a young Guyanese who was shot dead on Thursday in Trinidad and Tobago.
Raphael Collins, fondly called ‘Boy’, 22, originally of Ann’s Grove Village, East Coast Demerara, was shot to his head and upper body by a lone gunman as he sat braiding his hair at a neighbour’s home in Laventille, Trinidad, Thursday night.
A lone gunman walked up to Collins in a neighbour’s gallery (verandah), pulled out a gun and shot him nine times, relatives of the dead man told the Guyana Chronicle at his home in Ann’s Grove on Friday. According to a report on looptt.com, Trinidad police said about 21:00hrs Thursday Collins was at the home of a female companion along Williams Street, Laventille. The young man was said to have been seated in the gallery, while the young woman was braiding his hair. “An unknown assailant entered the yard and, without warning, pulled out a firearm and shot at the 22-year-old multiple times…the assailant then fled the scene on foot. Collins died at the scene,” the news report stated. The young woman who was braiding his hair at the time of the shooting was not injured.
When the Guyana Chronicle visited the man’s home at Ann’s Grove on Friday, relatives gathered trying to understand what had really happened and even discussed arrangements to bring him home for burial. Linda Scott, Collins’ grandmother, said around 21:00hrs on Thursday, she was on a messenger call with her granddaughter who lives in Trinidad , when she heard a sudden screaming. She said the call was disconnected and when she returned a call, she heard a commotion, then someone told her that her grandson was shot dead.
“I seh wha happen, wha happen with y’all over there, then one of them say ‘grandma is Raphael geh gun down’,” she told the Guyana Chronicle. Scott said her daughter Holnie Scott later informed her that the shooting took place just opposite their residence in Laventille, where Collins usually visits a female friend to braid his hair.

She said her daughter told her even though the family heard gunshots, they did not look outside immediately, since the echoes of gunshots have become common in the community. They never expected Collins to be a victim of such, because he was never the troublesome kind, but was rather a quiet and hardworking individual. “They hear this gunshot going on, but you deh over deh yuh cyan run out just so when you hear them thing,” she explained.
After a few minutes, Collins’ aunt looked outside and saw a large crowd. When she proceeded to the front of the yard to investigate, the young woman who witnessed the shooting approached her smiling and informed her that her nephew was shot dead in her gallery. Collins’ other grandmother, Volda Williams, also known as ‘Gago,’ said she was already in her bed when she heard Linda Scott’s voice calling her. She said though she wondered why the woman visited so late, she never thought she would have ever received such news involving her own grandson.
Collins was a quiet child, who she cared from his birth and with whom she had a strong bond. He was her daughter’s son but his mother died when he was just five years old, leaving him and a younger brother, Leon. She told the Guyana Chronicle the boy’s father Germaine Scott called ‘Pepep’, who lived a street away, expressed interest in taking custody of the child and so he grew in homes with both families, visiting her almost daily.
She recalled the last time seeing her grandson was in January last year, when he visited her home and informed her that he was travelling to Trinidad to work and make life better for them all. She handed him US$20.00 and he accepted it even with laughter.
“He seh me want go Trinidad with me cousin (Nyon)… he seh things gon be alright, it gon be better,” Williams said. Collins maintained regular communication and last spoke to her son, his uncle, on Facebook Messenger just hours before his death. She last spoke to him weeks ago. His aunt Maleka Williams said her nephew called her recently and told her he was preparing to travel home to Guyana to spend the Easter holidays. Collins worked in his aunt’s pastry-making business in Trinidad. He has left to mourn his father Germaine Scott, several siblings, his grandparents and other relatives.