MANDEVILLE, Manchester — It has been a rough life for 29-year-old Alwayne Smith, particularly in the last four years.

Still recuperating from an unfortunate and mysterious personal attack on him in 2011, which left parts of his body scarred and his face maimed, he is now nursing gunshot wounds only months since returning home after his second prolonged stint in hospital.

Last year in a

Jamaica Observer story, Smith said that he left his community of Oxford in North Western Manchester to interview for a job in the hotel industry in Montego Bay.

While staying at the unoccupied house of a friend in Long Bay for a short period while he awaited a decision, one morning he was found with severe burns and left for dead at a roadside after going to bed at the house.

The

Sunday Observer was told by the St James Police at the time that they were unable to find any information on the incident.

There is no new information as far as he knows and it is still not conclusive why or exactly how the incident occurred, Smith said.

After an initial 17-month stay at the Cornwall Regional Hospital and being released after a number of surgeries, he was still seeking additional medical care.

At the time, he said, he had gradually lost sight in both eyes, had hearing problems in his right ear, and trouble eating and talking because of the severe burns.

On Friday, the

Sunday Observer caught up with Smith at the Mandeville Regional Hospital where he went for follow-up medical attention for the gunshot wounds.

One of his arms is in a cast, he was in pain, and he has trouble eating and bathing, he said.

Smith said that following the

Observer article he was readmitted to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, where he spent 11 months and did additional surgeries.

He said that he is now able to see from both eyes, but his right ear is still a bit “lazy”.

On the recommendation of the medical team at Cornwall Regional, he was sent to the University Hospital of the West Indies where the necessary provision was made to further restructure his face.

Apart from the fact that he is still unable to close his mouth and he still has his scars, he said that he was “ok” when he returned home to Oxford in August.

However, two Wednesdays ago the tide turned for Smith.

He said that returning from ‘Noisy River’ in the area at about 7:00pm where he went to have a bath, he and a friend were shot in an alleged case of mistaken identity.

‘Noisy River’, which is set to be a structured community tourism attraction in future, Smith said, is sometimes used by many residents for domestic purposes, such as bathing and washing, in the absence of portable water supply in the section of Oxford where he lives.

Smith said that after the two gunshot wounds he feigned his death.

He said he heard what sounded like the voice of a teenaged boy saying to the other attackers, “A nuh him but him dead”.

Smith said that he was more badly hurt than his friend because he was unable to move as swiftly when the gunmen started shooting.

The Mile Gully/Cottage Police confirmed the incident. No one is held in relation to the matter.

Another of Smith’s concerns these days is to make his original plans to give his five-year-old son a better life than he had a reality — as soon as his gunshot wounds are healed and he can manage.

He said that he thinks he would be able to “keep and care” a place in a job that is not too hectic or too public.

“Mi neva guh school good. Mi nuh want that happen to him,” he said.

Though accustomed to his independence, his only source of income now, he said, is a $2,300 Poor Relief allowance every other month, and sometimes support with transportation cost for his monthly doctor’s visit in Kingston to monitor the corrective braces he wears on his teeth.

“It kinda rough. Anyone can give any financial assistance in the meantime I would appreciate it,” he said.

“Mi just haffi give God thanks, regardless of everything,” he added on Friday, noting that he is grateful to all the those who have assisted in his recovery so far.

Alwayne Smith can be contacted at 567-2676, his mother Lydia Hooker at 465-1663, and contributions can be made to his Jamaica National Mandeville account number (2094153247).