A founding member of a support group for people dealing with the aftermath of homicide said Bermuda appeared to have forgotten about the magnitude of its problems with violence.

Nicole Fox, of Mothers On A Mission, said the group would host an island-wide motorcade this month to serve as a “wake-up call” for Bermudians.

Ms Fox said that each year their list of members got “longer and longer”.

She added: “That is why we do what we do — because so many people feel forgotten.

“So many families feel that this island has let them down, the Government has let them down and society has let them down.

“So many people feel like their loved one has been forgotten, and we don’t want that.”

Ms Fox lost her 25-year-old son, Ricco Furbert, in 2013 to a double murder at Belvin’s Variety Store at Happy Valley Road in Pembroke.

The life of her stepson, Clark Fox, was claimed by a shooting in daylight in March 2020.

Tina Rowse, another organiser of the event, lost her son, Joshua, to a knife attack three months later in June 2020.

The pair said that MOM Bermuda had grown steadily since its creation in 2017.

Ms Fox said this may have been the result of greater recognition for the group — but acknowledged it also reflected the increasing numbers of attacks troubling the island.

She maintained that even as homicide grew into an epidemic, many people had grown numb to it.

Ms Fox explained that the frequent murders had become normalised.

She said: “At some point, murders are put on the back page.

“No one’s really covering it like they should. No one’s taking a stand.

“I just don’t want people to lose focus of what’s still happening.”

Ms Fox added: “I want people to know that their lives matter. My son’s life mattered. Joshua’s life mattered. Our boys’ lives mattered.

“You cannot just turn a blind eye to it and just keep accepting that it’s OK to have another young man to be murdered. It’s not OK.”

Ms Fox further blamed the silence on fear, saying that gang members had “held this whole island hostage”.

She said: “People are scared. They don’t want to speak up. They’re frightened. They’re scared to talk to their children.”

MOM Bermuda was created by Ebonie Cox and Ceble Crockwell, who lost family members to gun violence.

Ms Fox recalled feeling isolated after the death of her son in 2013.

She said: “When I sat down at the hospital, I had no one. No one understood what I was going through. So I felt so alone.”

She added: “As a recovering addict, I knew what going to meetings and being in a support group had done for me and how it helped me to heal and overcome an addiction that I couldn’t have done on my own.”

Ms Fox said it was crucial for mothers in particular to try and heal from the trauma of homicide because of their family roles.

She explained: “I believe that mothers are a critical part in the family.

“I believe that if we cannot heal from the tragedies that we’ve been through, our children are not going to heal.

“I feel that healing is the best thing for every mother who has experienced this, because if we cannot heal and unite, how do we expect our children to?”

She added: “I think if we stand in solidarity, as mothers and families together, then our sons have no other choice.”

Ms Rowse said that homicide did not just blight the lives of those who knew the victim, but the lives of the families of perpetrators too.

She explained: “If they’re going through the court system, then that’s another family that’s struggling.

“So these young boys making some of these choices forget how many people that it is affecting.”

Ms Rowse said that although the increase in MOM Bermuda’s numbers was concerning, she hoped it could draw sympathy from the wider public.

She explained: “Nicky’s story may affect one person where my story may affect somebody else.

“Our stories are all different and unique, and we each respond to what’s happened differently as well.”

Ms Rowse added: “We think telling our stories would also help because that one child who’s on the fence about ‘do I pick up that gun or knife or not’ could have known one of our children, or could know one of our family members or extended family members, and think ‘oh, I’m going to think twice’.

“It actually surprises me to no end how small we really, really are and how close-knit all those mothers are — and not knowing that their children knew each other, or could’ve been in similar circles that led to them to be murdered.

“Some of them may not have even been in those circles at all and just happened to say the wrong thing to the wrong person.”

The hope is that the motorcade will bring awareness of those who have lost their lives to violence.

It will take place on August 16, with sign-up and decorations beginning at 9am at CedarBridge Academy in Devonshire.

The motorcade will begin at 10am and travel to Dockyard by South Shore before taking a break, heading to St George’s along North Shore Road and back to Hamilton via Middle Road.