There are many people who fell emotionally gutted as they mourn the two men cut down by gunmen in a robbery of a delivery truck on Sunday, June 1, in Pimento Walk, near Ocho Rios in St. Ann. And the cruelty of the situation has not escaped many who have pointed out that the men were out earning their honest bread on a Sunday when they lost their lives. Dead are 31-year-old Horace Hamilton also called Mickey, of Steer Town and his 39 year-old-employer Robert Blake of Lime Hall, both in St Ann. Hamilton died leaving a 14-month-old-baby, the first child for him and his girlfriend, unemployed 23- year-old Vanessa Warren, of Parry Town.
Mr. Blake’s wife is pregnant and devastated by the death. Residents say that when she went on the scene of the killing she said: “Imagine, I have his dinner ready and he won’t ever eat it.” People in her area said she was locked away after returning home from the scene. However, she told friends that Robert Blake had been saying he was not going to service that area of Parry Town and Pimento Walk anymore, following what was believed to be an attempt to hold him up months ago. It was also reported that he had been held up and robbed years ago but continued his business. In deciding to continue his business, Mr. Blake reportedly told his wife, he was not going to allow fear and criminals to stop him from working. “Dem haffi kill me first,” he is reported to have said. On Sunday, she considered it an omen of sorts when the truck had difficulty starting and moving. Mr. Blake’s vehicle was well maintained and scarcely caused any trouble. On Sunday morning however, there was a great deal of trouble for the truck getting out. Hours later Mr. Blake and his sideman were dead.
Horace Hamilton was the sideman for years and also worked in the wholesale they ran in St Ann’s Bay. Hamilton lived with his mother, Audrey Graham McBean, who told The Times she was most distressed by his death. She said Mikey was the first of her five children and was a simple hardworking young man. She said she and his father were concerned how hard he worked as Mikey worked seven days a week, six with the wholesale and one on the truck, making deliveries. Mrs McBean said she and his father had been telling Mikey to take it easy and to get out of the seven-days-a-week job. She said following another robbery of a delivery truck in the area in February they had expressed concern about his continuation on that delivery run.
Mrs McBean was hurt that later Sunday evening she realized someone had stolen the phone from her dead son. She said after receiving the news early Sunday afternoon that Horace aka Mikey had died she tried calling him several times and the phone rang to voice mail. Later in the afternoon when she called again, she realized the line was open after the phone rang but no one spoke. “Imagine somebody steal the phone,” she said. For her part Ms Warren said she saw her baby’s father that morning sometime after 10, when as usual he came to Parry Town to make deliveries. She said he would come through the areas about that time on his way through to Pimento Walk, a neighbouring community and other areas where they distributed mainly grocery items, selling wholesale and retail. She said Mikey stopped briefly and “played with the baby” and said “Soon come, JJ” calling out to the baby as he left.
That was the last time that baby, Jayden would see him alive. Ms Warren came by the information about the demise of her boyfriend in a hard and almost callous way. She said she was in Ocho Rios in the early afternoon and heard people talking about a shooting. She said she heard her boyfriend’s name called and the truck being described as “blue front” similar to the one on which Hamilton worked. She said while she was calling to get details, a taxi driver came up to her and said “ You get sheg cause dem just shot yuh boyfriend.” (blurb) The pain spread beyond family. A businessman in Lime Hall, a close friend of Mr. Blake told the North Coast Times that he and Mr. Blake spent time together Saturday evening after the wholesaler brought him a bill. He said the death had shaken him up. “That man work and work like a slave and look at what idle people do to him.”
