PORT MARIA, St Mary — Nursing wounds to his head, face and hands inflicted in an attack that also left three-year-old Asher Campbell dead and four other people injured, David “Choppa John” Waugh on Thursday struggled to understand why they were attacked.

“I was delivering fish and when I reached the yard gate to drop off the fish I just feel a stab inna me neck,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

He said he turned around and saw a man he did not recognise.

“Me see the man cross him hands like a Muslim and then him say, ‘Allah, Allah, I need to kill this man’. The man is a cultist,” continued 56-year-old Waugh, who is a newspaper vendor and labourer.

He said he later realised that his attacker, who continued to hit him, is the son of a man he considers a friend.

“Me and the man father were at the seaside in the morning. A me friend. We are fishermen and good a sea and now this happen,” said Waugh.

Despite being in pain, he is grateful to be alive, he said.

According to the Port Maria police, between 3:30 pm and 4:00 pm on Wednesday, Asher was walking with family members when he was attacked by a man wielding an iron pipe and a knife.

As they tried to stop the attack, the boy’s mother and five others were chopped and hit on different parts of their bodies. In addition to Waugh, the injured include Asher’s nine-year-old sister, who received a wound to her left hand; her mother, 45-year-old Phillipa Walker, who received a laceration to her right hand; 58-year-old Phillip Brown, who received stab wounds to his face and lacerations to both hands; and 61-year-old Michael Brown, who was hit in his head and on his fingers.

The man who allegedly wielded the knife and iron that left the damage is in police custody, charged with murder and wounding with intent. His court date is being finalised. He is 33-year-old Devon Williams who residents say recently returned from overseas to live with his father.

Though she wasn’t home when the incident occurred, Cynthia Murphy, a senior citizen who lives in the community and knows both the family of the accused attacker and little Asher, was among those rattled by the attack.

“I know him [Williams’] father must be out of his mind right now,” she said. “I know the baby, nice little boy, and everybody that got injured. Me feel it,” said Murphy.

One man, who asked not to be identified by name, said he witnessed the horrific attack.

“Me literally see everything. The youth a walk pass my gate with a knife and pipe iron and he pass my gate and the girl a come up with her kids and him just start chop and lick them. Everything happen so quickly me frighten till,” he told the Observer, seemingly still-shaken.

Some people have theorised that Williams’ family knew he has been struggling with mental illness.

“See it deh, him mash up six people and kill the baby,” said one young man as he joined a spirited conversation taking place in a neighbourhood shop.

A family friend, who opted not to be identified by name, said her daughter and Asher are almost the same age and they often played together. She said she broke down in tears after watching a video that has gone viral on social media.

“When I heard his mother scream, [knowing] that I have a little girl just like him, I broke down crying,” she said.

The woman said fear has gripped the usually quiet neighbourhood.

“The community is shaken because we are not used to such drastic violence. What devastates everyone the most is that we all have children up and down coming from school. It could be any of them and I suppose that’s what makes it that more traumatic,” she said.

She remembered Asher as being happy and always playing with his bigger brother on a bicycle.

The concerned woman, who recalled once being chased by another man who is believed to be of unsound mind, said there are several other individuals who are believed to be mentally challenged in the community.

She called on the authorities to address the situation because citizens are living in fear.

“It’s not safe for our kids and that is what is wrecking everybody right now. I can’t even call my mother because as soon as I call her she start crying and going on because she thinking about the grandkids and the babies. Right now I had a gate designed and I am changing it to a bigger, higher gate,” she said.

One angry resident, who gave his name as Johno, said the attacker should get the death penalty if convicted.

“Anybody who kill pickney fi get the guillotine or the rope. No questions asked, him can’t do this and then get away because him mentally challenged; me no believe inna that. If them can’t find somewhere to put them, them need to get rid of them,” he said.

“A coulda my youth that a come from school and if you are a parent you understand how I feel right now. Them need fi do something about them,” he stressed.

However, Member of Parliament for St Mary Central Dr Morais Guy believes that steps should be taken to have mentally challenged people reintegrated into society.

He said residents can play a part.

“Part of it has to be a community effort in ensuring that they get their treatment… The whole aspect of mental health in this country is not to confine them to institutions such as Bellevue; it is now a community effort and to reintegrate them back into the society,” he said.