A Bahamian mother’s quest for justice ended in devastating institutional failure when the murder trial of her eight-year-old son concluded without her knowledge, leaving her to discover the acquittal through social media notifications. Kendera Woodside, whose son Eugene Jr. was killed by a stray bullet in 2017, described the experience as emotionally equivalent to witnessing her child’s fatal bleeding firsthand.
The judicial proceedings against Lloyd Minnis and Perry Pickering—the two men accused of the shooting that killed Eugene as he did homework in their Chippingham home—collapsed unexpectedly this week when prosecutors presented neither opening statements nor witnesses. According to Cordell Fraizer, Director of Public Prosecutions, the case foundered because the Supreme Court denied the Crown’s request to present an anonymous witness.
Woodside, who was pregnant when she held her dying son, revealed that the judicial system never informed her that the trial had been scheduled, much less that it was underway. For years, she had been told the case would not reach court before 2026. The first indication of the trial’s occurrence and abrupt conclusion came through social media messages and news clips sent by friends and family.
‘What happened to the system? Why does the system want to fail Eugene?’ Woodside asked in an emotional interview. ‘He was only eight years old.’
The failure to notify the victim’s family compounded the trauma of a killing that had originally sparked national outrage. Woodside detailed how the tragedy fractured her family: her daughter, who witnessed the shooting, required psychological support; her marriage dissolved under the weight of shared grief; and annual celebrations like birthdays and Christmas have become painful reminders of loss rather than occasions for joy.
Woodside has vowed to continue seeking justice, expressing anguish toward all parties involved—from the judge and jury to the prosecutors and the Attorney General’s Office—whom she believes failed her son and compounded her suffering.