Friends to host grand farewell for Choo Kong

Raymond Choo Kong could not even fight off his attacker. The 69-year-old theatre icon was ailing and had had trouble with his knees for some time.

The theatre community held an impromptu wake last night at the Little Carib Theatre on Roberts Street, Port of Spain, where his closest friends revealed the state of the comedian’s health.

“Most undeserved murder. This man could not fight back. He couldn’t fight back, if you know Raymond as we know Raymond now: he was walking with a cane,” said actress Penelope Spencer.

Relatives found Choo Kong stabbed to death at his Arima home yesterday.

“He couldn’t fight back, and whoever did this, I really hope your soul, your soul takes care of itself, brother man. Because you have real things to answer for,” she said.

Spencer, Nikki Crosby and Cecilia Salazar, all close friends and students of Choo Kong, gathered to give the media a brief statement.

Spencer said while the wake was just a spontaneous gathering, the community will put on a big event to say goodbye to their long-time friend.

“We are going to plan something real big that only a king deserves. We are going to have something real smashing,” she said.

Crosby, who sobbed through the interview, said losing Choo Kong would have been a tragedy, but to lose him in such a violent way was unthinkable for a man who wanted to bring laughter to people’s lives.

“That’s what hurts, when a man that brought so much comedy and joy to people would die like that, struggling and in pain, I think that’s why we are all hurting. We would hurt if we knew he died peacefully in his bed, but this is an extra pain we keep struggling with as Trinbagonians.”

She lamented the number of murders which occurred yesterday.

“I cannot not comment that there were seven murders in 24 hours, and one was our friend and he is family – people have been calling me, and that’s the only way we could describe Raymond.”

Choo Kong was supposed to teach a class the day he was murdered. He was also a mentor in the Mentoring with the Masters programme. Referencing a Nigerian proverb she loved to quote, Crosby said when a man like Choo Kong dies, a library is lost.