Enduring Privilege

At a house in Gloucester, Ottawa, a man grieves for his sons. One is dead another may face a life sentence for murder. The former, at age 17, is being mourned, the latter, age 15, has an extremely uncertain future. And Germano Wabafiyebazu is in shock, sorrowing and mystified. Why it might be that his two boys who grew up with privilege and lacked nothing, chose to become thugs. "I'm not somebody accustomed to this kind of life", the father of the two boys sighed.

Jean and Marc Wabafiyebazu shown in portraits taken in 2014 and released by the boys' family. (Submitted image OTTAWA SUN)

"They had everything. They never had problems. That is what is sad", this man explains, of his now-broken family. He had worked hard to raise his children, he said, and who can doubt him? Attempting to teach his children values that he and they could and should be proud of he found that they were attracted to another lifestyle, and influences tugged them away from the path he tried to steer them toward. His older boy Jean, was addicted to drugs.

A handsome young man from a privileged background, accustomed to having whatever he wanted, he went completely awry. Mr. Wabafiyebazu spoke of losing control of his son, and perhaps he held out hope that the younger of the two siblings might not follow in his older brother's direction. He spoke to his boys before they left Ottawa to join their mother in Miami that in the United States a more rigid interpretation by authorities of their behaviour could have harsh consequences.

Miami-Dade police work at a crime scene in Miami, involving the two teenage sons of Roxanne Dubé, Canada’s counsel general in Miami. A black BMW matching the description of Dubé’s car is seen at right. The photo was taken Monday, March 30, 2015.  The Associated Press

"This is not a place where stuff like that [drug deals] is supposed to happen. I heard about six shots consecutively. A couple of moments later I heard another four shots. I saw a guy run out of the apartment with a gun in his hand. I think he was shot in the shoulder. A couple of minutes after another guy ran out behind him. I think he was shot in the stomach. He stumbled down and fell to the ground."
Alex Hernandez, 34, Coral Way, Miami

"I was talking to one of the neighbours when shots rang out. One of the kids came out. He was upset. He was screaming something about his brother,l 'brother, brother'. Then the cops came and said 'You killed him, you killed him'. [The kid] started screaming again 'f--k this, f--k that'."
"Everybody knew something was bad at the house. Every day cars coming in and out, kids smoking pot, a lot of arguments."
"This is a great neighbourhood. Coral Gables is right here. You've got families here. beautiful homes, beautiful malls."
Carlos Medina, builder

"Everybody in the community is pretty bent out of shape over this. I would not live here if I had known [drugs sold at the apartment]."
George Patterson, 30, software engineer, father of three

Mr. Wabafiyebazu, and his estranged wife Roxanne Dube, newly posted as Canada's consul general to Miami, have had their lives shattered. Their two sons on Monday took the family BMW with its diplomatic plates to an apartment nearby where they lived with their mother. They took with them two handguns. They meant to confront a drug dealer and take possession of two pounds of marijuana; rather than paying cash for it, they planned to simply draw their weapons and take what they wanted.

The younger of the two boys remained in the parked vehicle while his older brother entered the apartment to confront two dealers. And a gunfight ensued, killing one of the dealers, 17-year-old Joshua Wright with the gunfire exchange mortally wounding Jean Wabafiyebazu who wounded another of the dealers. Marc Wabafiyebazu left the vehicle to enter the apartment, at hearing the gunfire. He was arrested at the scene, as was the wounded dealer, Anthony Rodriguez.

The boys who had everything have now lost everything. Their mother who doted on her boys to the extent that they were smothered with the privilege of becoming drug-addicted, gun-wielding thugs now must deal with the death of one, the charges levelled against the second of murder and perhaps as an adult for which crime, if convicted, he might face the death penalty.

Canada's finest set loose abroad.