The parents of Shawn Seesahai said they will never be able to get over the loss of their beloved son.
Shawn’s father, Suresh Seesahai, and mother, Maneshwary Seesahai, said their son was a hard worker, who “loved” to help his mother with chores, worked for his father at the weekend and always told them that one day he would “shine” and take care of them.
Ms Seesahai said: “Shawn was such a loving son, he was so well-mannered, looked after us, was loving to everyone and very protective.
“He always said he wanted to work, he wanted his own house, his own car.
“After his eye surgery he told me he would finish school. He always said ‘mum I’ll be shining, I’ll be shining, don’t worry I will help you’.
“He wanted to be an engineer, when he was a 10-year-old he would work with his father on weekends in construction, his father taught him about all the tools and as he got older he wanted to be an engineer in the UK.
“He liked basketball and cricket, he loved those sports. He was always listening to music. He spent most of his time at home and didn’t want to go out much.”
Mr Seesahai added: “I will remember him every day, when I get home I see his pictures, his clothes, his sneakers, I will always remember him.
“Even at work, I work for myself and he works for me on weekends, when I would pack up my stuff he always helped me.
“Whenever I put anything in my truck now, he will be there with me helping me do it.
“I never had a problem with Shawn, he was such a loving son. He would be up at 5am to work, and whenever I paid him he always saved it.
“We are a very close family, we’ll never forget him.”
Mr Seesahai said he feels sorry for the parents of the children who are accused of the killing and only hopes that “justice” is served for the death of his teenage son.
Ms Seesahai said: “He didn’t deserve what happened, I don’t have much to say about it. I just want justice.”
He added: “Justice must be done. I want them to have the right sentence, they don’t have to be locked up for life, I just want it to be fair.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll get the justice we’ve come here for.”
After finding out that the accused are children, the parents questioned how a person so young could have a weapon like a machete with them as they walked around the streets.
Mr Seesahai said: “I don’t think it’s a good thing that a child is carrying a machete, not even a knife, he’s just a kid.
“Pay attention to your kids, if you see them doing something wrong then tell them. Check their room, sometimes you don’t know what’s in there, so check it as parents.
“This world is a different world, kids are dangerous now. If we don’t pay attention to them this will keep happening.”
Ms Seesahai added: “Twelve-year-old kids should be at home doing school work and then going to bed. I have two children and at 7.30pm they had to go to bed because they have to follow the rules of the house.
“Before that they do their school work and have a little rest.
“Shawn was 19, he can go where he wants to go, he’s a man you know.”
The loving parents, who also have a teenage daughter, revealed the moment they were told their son had been stabbed to death.
Ms Seesahai said: “I got a call from Shawn’s friend who was staying with him. He told me Shawn had been stabbed and I just started crying.
“I told my husband and he asked for the phone to find out what had happened.”
Mr Seesahai added: “She kept saying that Shawn had been stabbed, I asked her what she meant and then she handed me the phone.
“I asked if Shawn was okay and he said that he was not, that he had passed away.
“About 30 minutes later I got a call from the police who asked if I was Shawn’s father and if I could spell Shawn’s name out. I said ‘yes’ and did, they told me they had bad news – that my son had been stabbed and had passed away.
“Getting a call like that is not nice for anyone. I tried to keep myself up but getting a message like that was not easy.”
The heartbroken couple had to wait 11 days before being able to travel to the UK.
Ms Seesahai said: “We couldn’t eat for a week straight. We were in complete shock and didn’t know what we were doing.”
The parents said they’ll never find peace after going through what had happened, but must try to find a way to keep living.
Mr Seesahai said: “I’ve lived in Anguilla for over 20 years. This is something that I never expected to be doing.
“Shawn has passed away, someone took his life and left his body on the ground. If his friend was not there, maybe he would have been laying there until the next day.
“We won’t ever find peace, but we spoke and in this world things happen. We cannot forget about Shawn, but we must try and go on.”
Ms Seesahai added: “Every day we will have to live with this until God is ready for us.”
Mr Seesahai added: “It’s also very hard for his sister because they always spoke to each other. After he passed away we were on the porch, she started crying and said: ‘Mummy I have no brother it’s just me, alone.’
“I told her she has her father and her mother.”
