Shakira Young Speaks Out on the Heartbreaking Outcome of Her Son’s Murder Case

Tyler Savery

The killing of Tyler Savery and his cousin Porshan Pipersburgh numbed the nation. The young primary school child was being taken for a smoothie when he was executed on Daly Street, Belize City on November eleventh 2016. The individual who was charged for the double murder walked on Monday for lack of evidence in trial. It has opened old wounds for family members who were hoping for justice. His mother, Shakira Young sat in during trial; today she spoke to media about the heartbreaking outcome. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

It was an emotionally overwhelming day in the Supreme Court trial of Jayear Flores, once accused for the double murder of seven-year-old Tyler Savery and his cousin, Porshan Pipersburgh. At the end of trial on Monday, Flores was freed of the charge due to the lack of concrete evidence presented by the crown in the criminal matter. It was a sad reality for Tyler’s mother, Shakira Young, because two and a half years after her son was viciously murdered on Daly Street, she had to relive the horrific details of his murder shared by a witness in court.

Shakira Young

Shakira Young, Mother of Deceased

“I wept and I said, God this feels like they are killing my son all over again. The pain felt like they were killing my son all over again. I asked my mom to give me some time to collect myself because it was something for me that brought up so much emotions and there and then I said to myself, Shakira now you’ve gone through this affliction all the way.”

Young says that the loopholes in the testimony and the strength of the evidence submitted to the court led to the decision made by the Justice Colin Williams. In a post on social media following the decision and then again this morning, Young wrote on behalf of her son, saying that she believes that the police department and the D.P.P.’s office failed her.

Jayear Flores

Shakira Young

“While I sat in the courtroom, I noticed some discrepancies when it came to one the police department of how things could have been done differently. And where I think that more responsibility should have been put in place to ensure that the statements that were admitted as evidence could have been something substantial and it would support the conviction, but it wasn’t. And so when I saw that, I was like okay then, let’s wait and see what happens next. That was very discouraging to me because I said this is my son and this is my only child and isn’t this important for you. When he was later asked a question, did you ask any of the officers below you or the officer in charge anything regarding to the case or what were the possible statements admitted, he answered no I did not; with a blank face. And I like could you put yourself in the parent shoes to think that what if that was your child, wouldn’t you want some sense of urgency to be placed on your child’s case. And so I say there and my heart sank.”

While Young says she was holding on to the hope for a conviction in an effort to get closure for her son’s murder, she has forgiven Flores.

Shakira Young

“From since 2017, we founded the Tyler Savery Foundation and that is running. As of recent, I’ve decided to launch with the grace of God, a support group. The group is Beauty for Ashes. I decided to name it that because it is scriptural and that is what I truly want to see for the women of Belize, us—the women who have lost our children, our loved ones, to gun violence; that we make something beautiful out of the ashes that we have been given. We are at our lowest not having your child ever coming home again. I can remember telling somebody, my son has left and he hasn’t come home for two and a half years. And when I said that to the person, the person left blank because there was no response that the person could have given to me to say it’s going to be okay.”

Duane Moody for News Five.