Senior citizen killed with sword in Barbados, one held

Personnel from a cleaning agency disposing of a bloody bed base yesterday afternoon.(Pictures by Lennox Devonish.)

(Barbados Nation) THE CLOSE-KNIT RURAL COMMUNITY of Walkes Spring, St Thomas, has been thrown into a state of shock following the gruesome killing of one of its senior citizens, Douglas “Dougy” Barker.

Police said yesterday that a man known to Barker’s family and people within that district entered the elderly man’s house armed with a sword just after 11 o’clock on Tuesday night.

Family members and neighbours who were nearby tried to help but to no avail, as Barker, 74, who received several wounds about the body, died at the scene of the deadly attack. His death brought the number of murders for the year to ten.

The male suspect was taken into police custody.

This murder prompted a reaction from parliamentary representative for St Thomas and Minister of Elderly Affairs Cynthia Forde, who expressed concern about the level of crime, especially that which impacted senior citizens.

Forde lamented that the elderly were being ill-treated, abandoned and targeted for their money.