Reformed ex-convict facing a hard knock life

There is a Creole saying that goes: When yoh think yoh have it bad, somebody got it worse. That saying applies to Leandro Roches Junior, a man who will admit that he has been through the system but that he has sought to reform his life.  But as we found out in our visit with him today, he has been dealt a hard hand. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.

Marion Ali

Three years ago, forty-one year old Leandro Roches Junior and his common-law wife, Ann Higinio, found out that they were HIV positive.  The news was a hard blow to the couple, made worse because they had a one year old daughter, Destiny.  The baby was also infected with the virus, and together, the family had to maintain a strict diet and take medication to avoid rapid deterioration.  But five months ago, Roches lost Higinio to the disease and been finding it difficult to provide for himself and his daughter who is now four years old.  Then one week ago, the Department of Human Services took custody of the little girl and placed her in foster care.  It dealt another blow to Roches.

leandro roches jr.

Leandro Roches, Jr., Needs Help

“The first I saw my daughter when she was born that morning, that just changed my life totally.  That gave me something to live for.  Then my daughter was taken away from me, just like that. I love my kid and I miss her, and I know she misses me.  I try to give her the right kind of food to nourish her properly to make sure she’s ok.  I try my best and anybody in my neighborhood can always vouch for that, all my neighbors, all my friends.”

As if losing his common-law wife and then his daughter was not bad enough, on Monday night Roches lost his house at sixty nine Cumberbatch Street in the Lake Independence area to a fire – allegedly set by someone who had a dispute with one of his sisters.  The blaze destroyed everything he owned – and left him even more helpless.

Leandro Roches

“I know the guys but the point is, ih never have to gone all this way, yoh know, cause they deprive me of something very important, my shelter. Two things happen to me in less than two weeks, my child was taken away from me, now my house got burned.  I mean mentally, I’m trying to stay stable and I’m trying to stay strong.”

Roches says he is trying to walk the straight and narrow but in order to do so, he needs your help.  He doesn’t want money, he says.  All he wants is material to rebuild his house or a job to earn his keep.

Leandro Roches

“Right now I’m totally despondent and I need help, all due respect.  And anybody out there who can help me to replace my place I would really appreciate it. I’m not permanently employed at the moment, arite?  I’m a hustler, you know?  I chop yard fi people, I run in sand, I do mi lee casting dehn, whatsoever I can do, odds and ends in order to survive every day.”

The other thing that Roches needs is to have his daughter back in his care.  He says he will get to visit with her on February twenty fourth of next year – a comment we observed brought tears to his eyes.  Marion Ali for News Five.

If you would like to help Roches you may reach him where he is staying at his father’s house at 6619 Police Street.