Paralysed assault victim dies after sudden illness
RICARDO Maroon, a Colchester man paralysed in a 2012 assault who was due to receive specialised technology last week to enable him to work his Rotary-donated laptop, has died.
News of Maroon’s death follows The Herald story in February of how things were looking up for him, despite the tragic incident five years ago, with the intervention of several benefactors.
Maroon died at Livingstone Hospital on Tuesday.
Retired businessman Nick Neil-Boss said Inclusive Solutions had reduced the price for their state-of-the-art eye-tracking technology.
He and fellow Colchester resident Mike Smith had also put in part of the money required and Siyaya Skills Institute, which had already agreed to enrol Maroon for training, had committed to providing the balance.
“We were due to take Ricardo for his final assessment [last week] and he was going to be hooked up to this new technology,” Neil-Boss said.
“It would have allowed him to try for work, however menial, to get back into the stream of humanity.”
Maroon, 25, was paralysed on August 20 2012 when his spine was snapped after he was assaulted.
In the interview two months ago, Maroon said he missed soccer, fishing and being with his friends but, most of all, he missed being able to work and earn a bit of money.
Maroon’s aunt, Sophia Tobias, said her nephew would be buried on Saturday.
She said Maroon had developed diarrhoea and blood in his urine on Tuesday and was taken to hospital.
“The next morning, the police came to tell us that he had died in the night.
“It was a shock. We don’t know what went wrong,” she said.