Young man shot dead 1 day before son’s christening

A 23-year-old who dreamed of a career in music was shot outside his family’s business on Saturday, the day before his two month old son was to be christened.

Mother, Rosey Paesschezoone heard the gunshots that took the life of her youngest, Ronaldo Hamilton, and also experienced the “terrifying” sight of her child’s lifeless body lying near the bus stop at Arnos Vale in the middle of the afternoon.

As she recalls, her son came by their business ‘The Original Rik’s’ close to two in the afternoon, after calling her at around 11:00 a.m to let her know he was recording a song and would come by later. He ordered a spaghetti bolognese and the mother remembered that she saved the best one for her son.

He then told her he was going home, and she asked him to change a bill for coins at the gas station opposite. Paesschezoone says that she has a habit of looking out to see him cross the busy road, but was distracted at the time with a customer. When she was dealing with the customer she heard “pow, pow” of gunshots.

“…They say somebody on the ground and when I look I see my son lying there. I run and see my son lying there,” she said, speaking from her home on Wednesday, February 9.

“I think no mother supposed to see their child die like that,” she commented, “like if he was a dog on the pavement.”

Now all that’s left for them are questions.

“Why? Why did they do that to my son?” Paesschezoone asked, .

“How somebody could just do that?” she wondered, “Where are they? Are they sleeping good? Really? I just need justice for my baby.”

Four days after the shooting the mother adjusts her clothes that aren’t fitting her well she says, due to weight loss as she hasn’t been eating.

She cries herself in and out of sleep.

Ronaldo’s step father of 22 years, Rik Paesschezoone, is also trying to process the death. He was not at ‘The Original Rik’s’ on Saturday but was at home doing construction.

“It’s an emptiness I cannot even describe. Such an emptiness.”

He said that they’re hearing 25 different rumours, some of them insinuating that Hamilton was involved in bad things. The parents say that he went to the best schools, had everything he needed growing up, was working as a cashier at “The Original Rik’s’ and had no reason to do wrong things.

Rik said the last story he heard was that it was a mistaken identify, noting “I hope that is not what he die for.”

The stepfather also said that like every young man, Hamilton had friends.

Rik is looking to the justice system for closure.

“I believe they gonna get through and they’re working very hard,” he said, and that the officers are very active with all kinds of leads so that something will be cleared up soon.

“My brother was not a criminal; he was not a gangster,” Juliss Hamilton declared. She has had to defend Ronaldo against persons who are making assumptions because of a photo published after his death showing him with what appeared to be a gun sign. The sister wonders why this photo was chosen out of a number of online photos of her brother. She notes that many young people listen to artists who inspire them to take such photos.

She said that in reality her brother was the kind of person to offer his friend a roof over their head if they needed it.
His mother said that Ronaldo wasn’t a street boy.

“He had his family. He was very loved.”

Rosey said that she will never be the same again, and will not trust friends, “it make me really wonder what kind of world are we living in”.

Nevertheless the grieving mother stated, “They take his body but they never take his soul and may his soul rest in peace and one day I know I will meet him again.”

They held a small candlight memorial for him at the spot where he was killed on Sunday.
The young deceased leaves behind a girlfriend and his infant son ‘Leo’. The young family had been living together in Stubbs.