He’ll kill again

PORT MARIA, ST MARY — Tears filled Phillipa Walker’s eyes last Friday when the man who attacked her and her three-year-old son as they walked home from school in May 2024 received a 15-year sentence for the heinous crime.

“Not enough,” the grieving mother told the Jamaica Observer.

“When he is out — you see how big and strong he is? — I can feel it when he gets out, he is going to come back and kill again,” Walker lamented.

The convict, Devon Williams, was slapped with a 20-year sentence in the St Ann Circuit Court, but the prison time was reduced to 15 years as he had pleaded guilty and was deemed mentally unstable by a psychiatrist.

Williams was 33 years old when he attacked the 45-year-old mother while she was walking home with three-year-old Asher Campbell and his sisters in Pagee, Port Maria, St Mary, on May 29, 2024 about 3:00 pm. Williams used an iron pipe and a knife in the attack which left Asher dead, while his nine-year-old sister, mother, and five other people sustained injuries.

At the time, Williams had recently returned to Jamaica from the United States where he had lived with his mother. Court records show that his father told the St Mary Parish Court that Williams has had a mental health problem since 2016 and was on medication.

He also said Williams’ mother had called to say he had forgotten his medication in the US. She had sent it, but it had not arrived in Jamaica by the time of the attack.

Williams initially told the court he wanted to represent himself, but judge Nicole Kellier ordered legal representation due to his mental health condition. He was represented by attorney Dane Marsh.

On Friday, Walker argued that had the community been warned about Williams’ ill health people would have been wary of him.

“Maybe my baby would be alive,” the angry mother said.

The pain of losing Asher, the last of her six children, was still palpable as Walker spoke.

“When I see the other babies going to school, especially on Career Day, in their cute outfits, my Asher would have dressed up as a soldier, as that was what he wanted,” Walker kept repeating during the interview.

She also said that Asher’s father had taken his murder so hard that he stopped cutting his hair.

“When Asher was around and his father wanted a trim, no matter how I told him, [he would ignore me]. It would be the baby that would say, ‘Daddy, come let’s go to the barber.’ He’s hurting badly,” Walker told the Observer, shaking her head.

“My nerves are shattered. I have to tell myself I get old before I become young,” Walker shared, adding that her sleeping pattern has changed and she has been taking medication which, in her estimation, is not working.

“My baby was innocent, he deserved to grow up,” Walker said, tears flowing down her cheeks.

Describing the look on Williams’ face during the attack as emotionless, Walker stated: “He should have gotten a time [in prison] when him ready to come out he is old and feeble and he can’t hurt anyone else.”

Phillipa Walker reflecting on her son, Asher Campbell, who was killed in an attack by a mentally unstable man in May 2024. Photo: Ingrid Henry

Phillipa Walker still bears the scar of the May 2024 attack in which her three-year-old son was killed by a mentally unstable man as she and her children walked home from school in St Mary. Photo: Ingrid Henry