Matthew Falloon, Staff ReporterFOR LESLIE Malvo, 55-year-old St. Andrew mason and father of Lee Boyd Malvo, the news that his son had become embroiled in some of the most publicised crimes of the year was the first he had heard of him since his mother whisked away the 13-year-old from St. Elizabeth to Antigua in 1998.
Still trying to come to terms with the intense international media attention and the shock of reports of his son's involvement in the shootings, Leslie Malvo spoke to The Gleaner yesterday in the Oakland Road/Waltham Park neighbourhood of South West St. Andrew, where he resided with Una James and Lee during the 1980s.
"I feel very bad for him, he's my son, he's my blood so a must feel bad," he said. "When he was growing up he was not like that, just seem like him stepfather (Muhammad) inveigle him into that something."
Mr. Malvo broke off mid-sentence and wiped his face. According to neighbours in the community, the local and international media from the United States and the United Kingdom had been pressing the family for interviews since Thursday evening. For Leslie Malvo, the recent events have brought back bitter memories of a relationship gone sour and a son taken too soon from his father's care.
According to Mr. Malvo, he was living with Lee and Ms. James in the Waltham Park Road area during the late eighties. In 1989, he left to work in the Cayman Islands, sending money back each week to his baby mother and son. On his return in December 1990, he discovered an empty house.
"There was nothing in the house," he said. "Everything gone. She packed and gone to Washington Gardens."
"She's a wicked girl, man," he said.
According to Malvo, Lee attended primary school on the Washington Boulevard, before mother and son moved to St. Elizabeth, where Lee continued school.
"For long years, I don't see him, I don't hear from him." he said, noting that he only heard from his son briefly prior to Lee and Una James' move to Antigua. "The last time him check me, he say him pass him exam and everything alright and him can read good."
Leslie Malvo has not heard from his son since. Yesterday all he could think of was what could have been, if he had been there to guide the boy. He has not been able to contact his son.
"Me is a small man," he lamented, implying that he was unlikely to get permission to talk to Lee.
For now, Mr. Malvo will wait and see from afar what fate his son must face for his alleged involvement in the fatal "sniper-style" shootings and a shooting at a liquor store in the United States that have slowly grabbed the world's attention since the beginning of October.
