Survivor to undergo surgery to remove bullet
NINE-year-old Jermaine Herod, the only one to have escaped alive when his father went on a killing rampage Tuesday night at their Buxton home, is to undergo surgery to remove the bullet lodged in the left side of his jaw. The boy is in the Georgetown Hospital and medical personnel there yesterday said the bullet was not in a dangerous position. They explained it was better to wait until he was less susceptible to infection. One official said an x-ray done Wednesday afternoon, after a surgeon saw Jermaine, showed that the bullet was not lodged in the bony structure of the jaw. Relatives, friends, neighbours, his school teacher and several curious persons visited him at the hospital yesterday. A nurse said he was still traumatised from the horrifying event he witnessed and remained silent most of the day. Jermaine's brother Rondell Herod, 11, and sister Nandy Herod, 14 were shot dead by their father Raul Herod, 36, when he opened fire on the family with a 32. Taurus pistol following a blazing row Tuesday night. Also killed in the mass murder were his great grandmother, Angela Herod, 97; his grandmother, Shirley Cole, 56; his father's aunt, Patricia Harris, 58, and two cousins, Jonnelle Herod, 10 and Orwin Herod, 15. His father set the place on fire then apparently shot himself, Police and witnesses said. Jermaine said after he was shot in the jaw, he managed to escape from the house and hid at a neighbour. He was later taken to the hospital where he Wednesday recalled that his mother (Herod's first wife) committed suicide by drinking poison several years ago. Lying on his right side wrapped in a sheet yesterday, the boy signalled he was still in pain with a slight nod and cried when his uncle went to visit him. A nurse said Jermaine can use liquids and was in a stable condition. He is on a saline drip. (AMANDA WILSON)
GRIEVING relatives of the Herod family yesterday received food items and kitchen utensils from the Guyana Relief Council (GRC). Ms. Dian Munroe, GRC Office Secretary, explained that the items, which include a bag of rice, sugar, oats, rubbing alcohol, biscuits, a one-burner kerosene stove, pots and pans, worth more than $12,000, were donated to assist in the `wake' activities. One of the four family members left after the Tuesday night Buxton mass murder and fire which destroyed their house, Avril Herod, now at her aunt Jean's Middle Walk, Buxton home, was yesterday barely able to maintain her composure as she spoke with members of the GRC team. The 37-year-old employee of Securicor (Guyana) Inc. security firm in the city, lost two of her four children - Orwin, 15 and Jonelle, 12 - her mother, Shirley Cole, 56, grandmother, Angela Herod, 97 and aunt, Patricia Harris, 58, in the slaying. Her brother, Raul Herod, an operations supervisor at the same security firm, also shot his three children, killing two of them, before taking his own life. The GRC has promised her clothing and a mattress. Prime Minister Sam Hinds and Home Affairs Minister, Mr. Ronald Gajraj visited relatives Wednesday and Gajraj later presented items for the wake.
by Kim Lucas "HE HAD no right. Those people deserved to live...those little children...", a Buxtonian declared angrily yesterday. A pall of sadness and mourning hung heavy yesterday over Buxton, East Coast Demerara, following the Tuesday night mass murder by Raul Herod at his family home in the village. Residents are still trying to grapple with the tragedy caused by Herod, 36, who shot dead six of his family members, including his mother and two of his children, then set fire to the house before apparently shooting himself. Seven charred bodies were pulled from the rubble and another lay in the yard Wednesday morning. Reflecting on the horror yesterday, one resident remarked: "I knew that boy from a child...he was a quiet going chap, but deep down inside he had a temper...he was this double person. He showed a nice face, but..." The dead man's older sister, Avril Herod, 37, who lost two of her four children in the massacre, tearfully recounted years of torment suffered at her brother's hand. "He was that type of person from baby to now," she stated. She said when they were children, Raul bit her on the back once during a quarrel over food. Avril is convinced that had she been at home Tuesday night, she would have been her brother's first victim. "He threatened me before...if I was at home, I would a get it first," the enraged sister stated. She said she had complained to the management of Securicor security firm, where she, too, is employed, about her brother's threat. He was an operations supervisor there. According to her, Raul's violent temperament transcended into his personal relationships with women. She said her dead brother's first wife, Shanti, committed suicide a few years ago because "he (Raul) never used to treat her good." Shanti reportedly sent Raul to the market one day, dressed their three children in black and white, and attempted to poison them all with an insecticide. However, the children did not drink the deadly monocrotophus, but were reportedly given the bottle and spoon by their mother to dispose after she had taken a dose. After the death of his first wife, Avril said her brother returned to Buxton with the children, and on December 19, last year, married Denise John. She said there were constant disputes between the young couple and other members of the Herod family, and the afternoon before the massacre, Avril said Raul accused her 10-year-old daughter, Jonelle, of "causing strife". The little girl and her brother, Orwin, 15, perished at their uncle's hand. Raul's other victims included his mother Shirley Cole, 56 and her sister Patricia `Patsy' Harris, 58, his grandmother Angela Herod, 97, along with two of his three children - Rondell and Nandy Herod, ages 11 and 14, respectively. One resident described Nandy as a "sweet little girl". She also spoke fondly of little Jonelle, who she recalled was always willing to run errands for her. "This story is a sad one," the woman lamented. According to her, the incident "was brewing a long time" because there were frequent quarrels in the Side Line Dam home. Raul Herod was the second of four children born to Shirley Cole. Angela Herod and her daughter, Patsy, both celebrated their birthday last July 2. Left to mourn are the old woman's other two children, Jean and James. Avril's two surviving children - Andrea, 12 and Roger, 17 - were visiting relatives after attending a funeral and had not returned home that night. A neighbour claimed she heard Raul Herod say: "Dead man carry no tales." Then the final gun shots.
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