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By Andrea Estes Nearly four years after 9-year-old Jermaine Goffigan became the city's youngest murder victim, his family has been handed more than half a million dollars to help heal its wounds. The landlord of the housing project where "Manny" Goffigan was shot to death on Halloween, his birthday, has agreed to pay $550,000 to settle a suit brought by his still-haunted family. "They (the owners) were in the wrong. But why should someone have to lose their life before they wake up to what they need to do,"said his anguished mother, Deborah Haskins, surrounded by photos of Jermaine and her other kids. "This isn't going to bring my son back. No type of money could do that. But it can help the rest of my children move on," she said. The family's civil case was scheduled for trial in Suffolk Superior Court next month, but last week the sides agreed to settle. Haskin's has argued the project, Roxbury's Academy Homes I, was unsafe and the owners knew it. The site of several shootings, and the murder of another boy a year before, Academy Homes had no security patrols and its surveillance cameras were unmanned after 5 p.m. The project was so dimly lit, residents referred to it as the "dark side," said the suit against Academy Buse, the owners, and Loring Smith, the manager. "The individuals who shot Jermaine were able to walk nonchalantly into the heart of the community, start shooting and then exit the way they entered without any fear of apprehension," said Chris Milne, one of the family's lawyers. "Basic security measures would have prevented this," he said. In a city that has become numb to gang violence, Jermaine's Oct. 31, 1994, murder was stunning. The friendly boy, who had been a member of the anti-gang group Gang Peace since age 5, had just come from a Halloween- birthday party at his great-aunt's house. He was sitting in the yard with friends and his older brother, Jerome, when the shooter, a member of a street gang with enemies at the development, started firing. The brothers crawled into the nearest building, Jerome was unharmed. But Jermaine was wounded in the chest. He made it to a neighbor's kitchen floor, where he cried and asked for his brother. "Today is my birthday," he told paramedics. When asked if he was still awake, he answered "my candy is all over the floor." Donnell Johnson, 16 at the time, was convicted of the murder and is serving a life term. The settlement agreement sets up a trust for Jerome, now 16, who was devastated by his kid brother's death, according to Cherly Bezis, the family's other lawyer. "He saw the sparks on the shooter's gun five feet away," she said, "He couldn't even speak about the incident for two years." Jermaine's mother tried to commit suicide and was hospitalized three times in the two years after the murder. The family is setting up a scholarship fund for Boston Public School students interested in careers working with animals. Jermaine, who used to take in strays, wanted to be a veterinarian, his mother said. The fund also will be used to build a memorial park dedicated to Jermaine and other victims of violence in Boston. Bezis and Milne have donated part of their fee. Anyone wishing to give can send checks to the Jermaine Goffigan Memorial and Scholarship Fund, Boston Bank of Commerce, 133 Federal St., Boston 02110 or 2343 Washington St., Roxbury, MA 02119 Carolyn Sullivan, the landlord's lawyer could not be reached for comment yesterday. In court papers, she argued the owners took all reasonable steps to make the project safe, including installing extra lighting. But even if they had done more, she argued, Jermaine's death could not have been prevented. In addition, she argued, Boston Police were supposed to patrol the project. |