Family happy to escape extortionists in Spanish Town
OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Patrick Green still has a bullet lodged in his back and another in his left hand but he is convinced that he is abundantly blessed.
The 53-year-old says he fled extortionists who preyed on him when he ran a restaurant in St Catherine. He and his wife Yvonne now operate a food truck in the much more peaceful Ocho Rios.
Ten years ago, Green said, two men demanded cash from him as ‘protection’ for the small restaurant he had operated for 15 years on Marl Road in Spanish Town.
“Dem use to come and ask for money and I give them. Then soon after they started to demand some big money and I told them I couldn’t afford [what] dem asking for,” he explained.
In what he described as his most traumatic experience yet, he said, he was shot three times.
“I was hospitalised for 18 days and even now me still have two of the bullets in my body. One lodge in my back and one in my hand. Is just God save me because the guy pointed the gun straight to my face and the bullet end up fly through my hand. Then him just put it down to my lower half and start to shoot,” Green recalled. “Me and nobody never have nothing else, so is just the money the boys was hungry for.”
Even today he feels betrayed by the community he once called home.
“Every time I think about it I feel like I was stabbed in the back because I loved my community, and to see them do me like that makes me lose trust,” said Green. “Me leave me house, the business place I had there and everything, and just come because maybe if I stayed those boys would come back to do worse damage.”
It has been hard for him and his wife to start all over again but today they have managed to get their business back on track, albeit in a different form.
They now operate a food truck called Mealsonwheels in the resort town.
“We lived in that community all my life so to leave there was not easy, because we had to start afresh making new friends and all; but it is going good so far,” Yvonne Green told the
Jamaica Observer. “We don’t complain though because it is for our peace of mind and a better environment for our children.”
The Greens now serve up hot meals from the back of their truck to loyal customers.
“Back home, business was better because it was faster and we never had to pay rent for house and all. But, we have our supporters too and we make ends meet,” Yvonne Green said. “I’m also happy for where I am now because at one point, I remember I never use to come out because if I hear any type of loud sound I would jump and feel scared.”