The 25-year-old son of Minister Without Portfolio Leah Scott has been jailed for 18 years for a string of violent offences in the US.Bermudian Tyler Abbott was placed behind bars after he threatened an 87-year-old and stole her purse and led police on a high-speed chase that ended in a car crash last March.He was sentenced to a Florida state prison on a plea bargain deal last month.According to published reports, Abbott similarly threatened a 92-year-old woman at a Publix store in Boynton Beach, and remains a suspect in several robberies under investigation by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.County jail records show that he has been arrested at least six times since 2009 for charges ranging from aggravated assault to burglary, possession of drug equipment and parole violations.Just back from the proceedings, his mother sat down with The Royal Gazette for an exclusive interview.She said she’d raised her son as best she could, but that he was addicted to drugs.“It’s very painful and raw [for me]. I did everything that I could for him — everything,” she said. “We travelled. He was educated. I made sure that he was involved in sports. But you can’t make the choices for your children. I’ve had people say to me that I’ve gone over and beyond what they would have done as a parent, but that’s my child and I will support him.“My son was a crack addict and for the first time, since he was incarcerated, he has been clean for a year. He’s given his life to the Lord, he’s leading a Bible study; sometimes God has to literally arrest you to get your attention to get you where you need to be.“Is this what I would have wanted for my son? No. But my prayer was that he would always know who God is, and he does now.”Her son’s father walked in and out of his life, leaving Ms Scott to raise him as a single mother.She said she realised others might argue but she believed it impossible for a woman to teach a boy how to become a man.It’s for that reason that so many young, black males gravitate toward a life of drugs and crime, she said.“I don’t know how to explain it other than I think sometimes our young black men think that going to jail is a rite of passage and then when they get there they realise that this is not where they want to be.“I think we have to work harder. There are so many dynamics to it. A woman can’t raise a man and we are fast becoming, if we are not already, a matriarchal society.”She continued: “We don’t have men supporting our families; we don’t have men supporting our young children. And I think that the biggest thing that we are lacking is spirituality. We don’t fear God, none of us are God-serving, we’re self-serving.“The mentality is this is what I want, this is how want it, this is what I’m going to do to get it and I don’t care what’s going to happen afterwards. And I think there has to be some changes and those changes have to start at home within the family.”Despite her personal challenges, Ms Scott gravitated towards the public role of a politician because of the two-year-old daughter her son left her to care for.“What I do may not be significant but at least I will know that I’ve taken the time to try to make a difference,” she said.“I’ve never hidden my son’s addiction or incarceration and so to some people it may be news, but to the people who are close to me and who need to know, they have been aware every step of the way.“They’ve supported me, they’ve prayed for me, they’ve gone with me when I needed to go to trial, so they’ve been there. The people who don’t know are the people who, I guess are going to get a joy out of reading this.”Insensitive comments were posted on social media about her son that circulated around Bermuda in the lead-up to the last general election, she said.Her only wish was for Bermudians to hold her to her own record.“I think that it’s unfortunate that someone’s public pain has to be exploited publicly but if I can use what’s happened in my life and his life to help somebody else, it makes a difference,” she said.“I believe that what happens to you is for somebody else to get through and to get along with it. So I have no shame in telling my story, I’m not humiliated by it.”She said she has learned through her experience that drug addiction does not discriminate. Her hope is that others understand that it’s no less of a disease than cancer.“I didn’t learn that until my son got involved in drugs. I can’t tell you how many rehabs that he’s been in and out of. I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t just stop it,” she said.“Everyone has a compulsion or something they battle with. For me it’s shoes, for someone else it might be chewing gum, for others it’s drugs.”