While many across Guyana spent Christmas in the company of family and friends, the relatives and close friends of murdered University of Guyana student Anthony Ting-a-Kee spent theirs in tears, reflecting on his life.
Speaking to Stabroek News on Thursday night, George Ting-a-Kee explained that every year at Christmas there would normally be a family gathering, where members would meet to eat and drink and make merry for the holidays. This year, however, he said, they all spent the Christmas “remembering him, sometimes in tears… meeting with family and friends who were not present at the time of his death and reflecting.”
Four months have passed since Ting-a-Kee’s death and investigations are still continuing into what police are treating as a robbery, which his father remains adamant was not. “I know it wasn’t a robbery. My son was murdered for some reason that only those who killed him know about,” he stated.
What convinced the still-grieving father that his son was murdered is the fact that there was only “one little spot of blood on site” where he was shot; “why was there a lack of blood?”
Despite the fact that the police still have not gone anywhere with the investigations, Ting-a-Kee remains hopeful that they will some day be able to crack the case and bring him justice for his son. He said that many people “blame the police for not being able to foresee or… not having a crystal ball to see what transpired [but] they are human beings just like us. They were not there, just like us. No one knows what transpired.” He continued that “one has to determine what the truth is and what the lie is. They have to understand what police work is all about.”
Ting-a-Kee also expressed his understanding for the amount of work the investigators have on their hands as well as the process they have to go through during their investigation, and so he is patient but optimistic. As a result, he said “it’s in the hands of God.”
Explaining that he and the other relatives of the deceased cope by comforting each other, Ting-a-Kee indicated that he still visits his son’s grave to meditate, reflect and just have some quiet time with his only son. He divulged that while at the gravesite, thoughts would cross his mind, which he perceived to be his son speaking to him.
Among the thoughts, he said, is the constant reminder that “life is very strange and a time comes for everything.”
Ting-a-Kee said that through it all he hopes that his son did not suffer, and that he had a very painless departure.
Anthony Ting-A-Kee was shot during an alleged robbery while hanging out with his girlfriend by the Georgetown Seawall on September 2. His girlfriend was not hurt. The two perpetrators fled the scene in Ting-A-Kee’s Toyota VIOS motor car PNN 49, which was later recovered in Lamaha Park.
