FRIDAY, MAY 6: The night before his son’s funeral Randy Spence called a meeting for the young men in his family.
There were about 25 teenagers and young adults in the room. Some of them were cousins, others were close friends from his son Randy Robinson’s football team. The meeting at Charities House was the idea of his uncle Lewellyn Gomes, a counsellor.
Two other counsellors were present, Randy’s aunt Gina Spence and Scott Smith led prayers and his father shared some thoughts with those present.
Ms Spence said: “It was kind of an intervention. He asked each young man in the room to say how this had affected them. He talked to them and he really set the tone for how they responded to the murder.
“They were blown away by what took place. One of them came to me at the funeral and said he had given his life to Christ. My nephew ‘big Randy’ and my brother Lewellyn have become his mentors”
She said Mr Spence had called on the young men to resist the temptation to seek vengeance and to commemorate his son in their actions: “He wanted to talk to them before the funeral. He told them how he wanted his son to be remembered and how grateful he was for the love of his family and friends. He told them no one was to take revenge in his son’s name.
“He said it they wanted to do something to remember his son, then spend some time with their own children, become a coach or a mentor to other children.”
Ms Spence said the death of the young North Village footballer, known affectionately in the family as ‘baby Randy’ had come at a time when the family was just beginning to recover from the murder of her son-in-law a year earlier.
“At Randy’s funeral I was sitting there thinking it is impossible that we could be here again. Now I have to watch my nephew go through it all. Baby Randy was very close with his cousins, particularly my middle daughter. She’s taken the loss of his life very hard.”
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