TWO days before her son was killed Sherma Crichlow said she kept singing a hymn that she was later told is usually sung at funerals and she questioned who would be the person to die.

On Sunday she found out when a relative telephoned her and told her that her son, 16-year-old Shakeel Aberdeen, was shot dead on his way to her John John, Laventille home to collect money to buy food.

Crichlow, who did not name the hymn but sang these words "He lay, He lay, He lay his hands on me", promised that the hymn would be sung at her son's funeral.

Speaking with members of the media yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre, St James Crichlow said that is all she wants to know of her son's killer, who according to the autopsy shot him three times in the head, was why he was killed.

Crichlow said she believed her son was killed because of a pending court matter she has against a male relative.

She said she heard rumours that her son's killer was boasting of his "accomplishment".

Aberdeen, alias "Abbers", was described by his mother as a loving child who never smiled. She said her eight-year-old son who witnessed his brother's killing did not sleep on Sunday night.

The last conversation she had with Aberdeen was to inform him that she was leaving home to meet him because of "how the life is".

Aberdeen, who lived at Trou Macaque, wanted to be a mechanical engineer when he got older and his mother said she was in the process of enrolling him in the Helping Youth Prepare for Employment (HYPE) programme to facilitate this goal.

Crichlow said her son was accustomed to being in that area and said if he was involved in criminal activity she would have accepted that, but he was not.

Police say they are continuing investigations and are yet to give a motive for his killing.