KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Parliamentarians on Tuesday expressed condolences on the murder of dental technician Ewart “Ells” King, who was stabbed to death by an intruder into his Pembroke home on Dec. 4.
“He has left a very young family. I met four of his children a few days ago, 9, 7, 4, and one just about three months [old]. And I sympathise with them deeply, Mr. Speaker, because their future is going to be a very difficult one with the absence of a father,” Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace said.
“So many people in St. Vincent and the Grenadines have been touched by his passing and, indeed, the manner of his passing and I am sure that many of us in this house, indeed, all of us in this house, are concerned by the way he lost his life in this country,” Eustace added.
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said that he knew and frequently conversed with King, adding, “and his death shocked me.”
Gonsalves, who was overseas when King was killed, spoke of “the fear which comes into one where you are in your home, you are not troubling anybody, people break your house and come in to kill you.
“It’s a terrifying thing. And it’s the kind of a murder, the kind of a killing, which sends shockwave through people,” he said, adding that every killing is one too many,” said Gonsalves, who is also Minister of National Security.
“But we are human being and there are some [killings] which touch us more …” Gonsalves further stated.
He said that King “made an immense contribution to this country and I really feel for his family.
“At any stage, when someone is cut down like this, you feel for the family but with a young family especially.
“We are a small community and we all have to reach out and to show there is good among us as a people,” he said, adding, “There are some evil ones among our midst …”
Gonsalves further said “we have to do whatever is called for to ensure that Ells’ family is not in anyway disadvantaged or endure undue hardship,” adding, “I am sure his family will gather strength from the immense achievement of Ells.”
Meanwhile, Speaker of the House of Assembly Hendrick Alexander said that he knew King and his family quite well, including his parents and siblings, having also been born in Calliaqua.
“I have seen him in his various developments in life and I can even remember my own little encounter with him.
“I was driving along the Sharpes Street area and this person was behind me blowing their horn incessantly and I couldn’t understand why he was doing that, only to look back in the rear-view mirror to see the person killing himself with laugh[ter],” Alexander said.
“… that was the kind of character Ells was: the kind of guy who you can’t afford to be mad with for any long time.
“And I was rather saddened when I got that news about three o’clock in the morning that he was killed. I think it is a really terrible thing and I know the pain and the suffering that family is enduring at this particular time…” Alexander further stated.