Priest: Leave killers to God

LEAVE the cowardly killers to God.

This was the advice from Fr Wilfred John as he officiated yesterday at the funeral for the man, his wife and their daughter who were gunned down in a car along the Solomon Hochoy Highway in Golconda on Monday.

Plainclothed and uniformed police officers were present inside the St Benedict RC Church in La Romaine where final rites were held for George Peter Quintero, his wife Ingrid and daughter Marisol.

In describing the murders as “a cowardly act”, Fr John told mourners, “I am leaving the killers in the hands of God who never sleeps, never abandons us in our times of grief, times of sorrow or in times of challenge.” He joined the ranks of many in the country who have been asking the troubling, unanswered question: “why?”

Mourners were told to sit in selected rows of pews to the front of the pulpit and not spread themselves out to the left or right side of the dome-like sanctuary, “for security reasons.”

The only member of the Quintero family left, daughter Mariela Garcia-Quintero, was flanked by police officers as she sat in the front pew.

After the service, she was quickly whisked away by officers via a private entrance.

A private cremation was held later at J.E Guide Funeral Home, Coffee Street in San Fernando.

Standing before the three sealed caskets, Fr John spoke of the human difficulty in accepting death. He said what makes this case harder, “was the suddenness of this tragedy.”

“How does a priest try to console a family who has gone through this kind of tragedy. I pondered in my mind what I can I say to lift your spirits.

What can I do to console you. I came to the conclusion that I would ask you to pray for the souls of those departed.

“We pray that you (family and close friends) reach the stage of acceptance which may be long in coming. We pray that one day you would experience peace, even though we are now asking questions and finding no answers.”

Father, mother and daughter were found dead, all shot multiple times, in a red pick-up van which was parked on the shoulder of the highway.

No motive has been established for the triple murder and not one suspect has been detained.