The devastated father of murder victim Shaki Crockwell last night told of his shock at his son's killing as he attempted to turn his life around.

Danny Crockwell said the Middletown community was shattered by the death of the 25-year-old national footballer, who was shot in the neck and killed on the Railway Trail, Devonshire, on Friday night.

Hitting out at allegations his son was involved in a machete attack earlier this month, Mr. Crockwell told The Royal Gazette: "The guy would take the shirt off his back for everybody. He was a good boy. He's not a bad boy. He had some difficulties years ago but he learned from his mistakes. He moved on with his life."

Yesterday, the victim had been due to appear in Magistrates' Court accused of grievous bodily harm and possession of a bladed weapon. His lawyer Charles Richardson said he denied the charges.

On the loss of his son, Mr. Crockwell said: "It's a shock to the whole family. It's like a dream. We haven't woke up yet. I'm waiting for him to come riding down here."

The victim had two sons, eight-year-old Qwezi Savory, and Santiago Crockwell, aged just six or seven months. Girlfriend Yannique was said by the family to be "in pieces".

Chianne Crockwell, 20, one of his six sisters, said: "When they took my brother, they took my life. He was changing his life around. He was a good person. He would give you his heart. To me he's not dead. Physically, he's gone, but mentally he's still here. He loves everyone.

"He was loved by everybody. People respected him, who he was and what he's done. Everybody's traumatised.

"You could be round here moping, Shaki was the one with a smile on his face.

"I'm sitting at the door, constantly waiting for him to ride the bike. The last thing I remember my brother saying was that he loved all his sisters. He was my superman."

Police say the incident happened near Loyal Hill shortly after 10.20 p.m. on Friday. Miss Crockwell found out the news within hours and returned to the family home to find graffiti daubed on walls paying tribute to her brother.

"I woke up and I got phone calls and text messages from everybody at six o'clock in the morning," she said.

"People left me messages saying: 'Your brother has been murdered.' I didn't believe it until I got home and saw all the stuff on the wall. It's been hard to sleep, hard to eat, it just seems like it's unreal."

Mr. Crockwell has been described as an exceptionally talented footballer, and was captain of Boulevard Blazers, as well as playing for Bermuda Hogges and the national team.

His Hogges career stalled after he could not travel to the US because his name was on the stop list due to a 2003 conviction for grievous bodily harm to an off-duty prison officer. But Hogges president Shaun Goater yesterday said he believed he was moving away from a crowd which had led him to trouble.