I am sharing this picture and article from the paper today. Now, I am quite aware that my journalistic skills are envied by many and my sarcastic nature duplicated by none but THIS is classic! I have re-read this 10 times just to make sure that
# 1 It's real
#2 It was written
#3 People REALLY said those things
#4 It's ok for a 15 year old BOY to have a child with a 25 year old woman
PROVIDENCE –– Five of the six women who bore George Holland’s children told The Journal that he was a good person and not the violent man portrayed by the woman accused of murdering him on Saturday.
Shanna Rufo, 39, who is also a mother of one of Holland’s children, is charged with stabbing him to death at the apartment he shares with his current girlfriend. Rufo’s family had told The Journal that Rufo said Holland had assaulted her and the girlfriend during an argument. The family also said Holland had a history of beating Rufo and the other mothers of his children.
On Wednesday afternoon, the five other mothers and Holland’s relatives gathered at an apartment on Hymer Street to talk about his life. They said Holland had been characterized unfairly in The Journal as an abuser.
“There was also love there,” said Candace Smith, a niece. “He took care of his children. He spent time with them. The mothers [of his children] put aside all of their differences, and the kids spent time with all of their mothers.”
Leihani Rose — who has three children with Holland — and Silvia Vides, Melissa DeCosta, Keiojfa Hie and Jessenia Delossantos –– each with one child from Holland –– said that he made them all a family. They hugged each other and said in unison, “We love our baby mamas!”
He supported them by dealing drugs, his family said –– the best he could do because he was a high-school dropout and had so many children, so quickly.
“It bothered us, but he was trying to turn his life around,” said Leah Seton, Holland’s oldest sister. “But with limited education, and kid after kid after kid, it was easier to do what he did.”
The 29-year-old man left behind eight children, between the ages of 4 and 13. The oldest was his son with Rufo. The boy is now living with Holland’s family, while Rufo is being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions on a charge of murder.
Holland once had a promising athletic career. He was in his early teens when he was making a name for himself as a basketball player at the Davey Lopes Recreation Center.
When he was 15, he had his first child, with Rufo. She was 25.
Holland dropped out of school, but his parents said they took him to the Community College of Rhode Island for his GED. “They told us he could use the college as a stepping stone,” his mother, Diane Holland, said. “But he got sidetracked.”
“He had a baby,” added his father, Vincent Clement.
As Holland had other children with other women, he painted houses and was also dealing drugs, his parents said. He could make money that way to help support his eight children, their mothers and his family –– and because his criminal record and lack of an education made it hard for him to find work, said Clement.
He paid the rent on their apartments, and got cable TV, a flat-screen television, new sneakers and new clothes for his mother. “He always got me what I needed,” she said.
He had money for anyone who needed help, they said. “He wasn’t no bad man. He took care of all of us,” DeCosta said.
However, Holland was also arrested more than two dozen times, including several times for assaulting the women in his life. Two weeks after their son’s birth, Rufo got a restraining order against Holland, saying he was involved with drugs and that she was afraid he would shoot her and hurt their child. The order was eventually dropped, and other charges of domestic assault and no-contact orders were later dismissed.
Although Holland had been arrested for assaulting her, Rose said that she never wanted to press charges against him. “Me and George would be having disputes in our relationship, just arguing. We’d go out to the club, get drunk, get fighting,” she said. “I didn’t call the cops. It was the neighbors.”
“It's perfectly normal!” Delossantos added vehemently. “Everybody goes through it.”
His mother saw how the stress of many relationships was wearing on him. “My son was not a person who liked a lot of drama,” said Holland. “His girlfriend would be in the background yelling and screaming.”
His death was preceded by an argument involving his current girlfriend and two mothers of his children.
Holland had left Rose’s three children with his girlfriend, Vanessa Tapia, at their residence on Ridgeway Street. On Saturday morning, Holland went out to get a haircut for rapper Jay-Z’s concert at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
While he was gone, Tapia called Rose and accused her of having an affair with Holland. Rose confirmed it — she said she continued her 10-year relationship with Holland even after he moved on to Tapia, her best friend, several years ago –– and that started several hours of vicious phone conversations between the two women.
Rose said she sent a text message to Holland to tell him to get the children. Rufo’s family said that Tapia called Rufo for help.
Holland arrived at the house sometime late Saturday morning or early noon. The police say that Rufo stabbed Holland during a heated argument.
Three of Holland’s children were in the house when he was killed. Rose said her 6-year-old daughter told her that Holland held her as he lay dying.
“I don’t know where to go from here, what to do for these kids, with the tragedy they had to see,” Rose said.
amilkovi@projo.com
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