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The Speyside High Secondary football programme was plunged into mourning today as former utility player Lenox Eastman died at the Scarborough General Hospital, after failing to recover from gunshot wounds.
The 19-year-old Eastman is Tobago’s 21st murder victim of 2024.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/Wired868
Eastman wrote exams in June and got three passes, including a I in Physical Education. However, by the time CXC released student results on Tuesday, 20 August, the Tobagonian was already hospitalised and fighting for his life.
He was shot in the chest at roughly 1 am on Friday, 16 August. Eleven days later, he succumbed to his wounds.
Speyside High manager and teacher Kerry Lynch described Eastman as a friendly, free-spirited person.
“He was a little mannish in the sense that he was a free spirit—he was accustomed from small to being able to go where he want when he want,” Lynch told Wired868. “But I had a nice relationship with him and I’d say he was a nice fellah who was always willing to do what was required. He was a mannerly boy and a good person.”
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
After being a regular in the Speyside squad in 2022, Eastman played a smaller part last year. But it was no slight on his ability.
“He was a very talented boy,” said Lynch. “He was two-footed, and he could have played in multiple positions from forward back to defence.”
Arguably Eastman’s finest moment on the football field came on Wednesday, 27 September when he bamboozled Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) All-Star goalkeeper Kanye Lazarus from a free kick to give Speyside a 1-1 draw against eventual National Intercol champions Presentation College (San Fernando) in Tobago.
The goal came in the second game of a four-match unbeaten run, which included wins over Malick Secondary, Pleasantville Secondary and East Mucurapo Secondary, that cemented Speyside’s place in the schoolboys’ top-flight competition for a fourth successive year.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/Wired868
And, although Eastman eventually ended up on the sidelines by the end of the season because of non-footballing issues, it is a mark of the young man’s personality that he never turned his back on his teammates or the team.
“Even though he only played part of the season, he was a big, big supporter of the team,” said Lynch. “He would be rallying support in school and bringing out the children to the games. He would be running with the school flag at the ground shouting: ‘Come on, boys’!”
The Speyside manager does not believe Eastman was involved in any violence but suspects he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong company.
His former school mourns Eastman’s premature passing.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/Wired868
“It has left a real heavy vibe on the team,” Lynch admitted. “Those fellas are sour right now. They are really sad.”
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Lasana Liburd is the managing director and chief editor at Wired868.com and a journalist with over 20 years experience at several Trinidad and Tobago and international publications including Play the Game, World Soccer, UK Guardian and the Trinidad Express.
