Tears flow at murdered teen’s funeral

RESPECTFUL, determined, strong-willed and independent.

These were some of the words used to describe 15-year-old Akid Jaheim Anthony Parris Duke at his funeral on Friday. Duke was shot dead on March 9, in Bon Air Gardens, Arouca.

In the eulogy read by Hazel Warner, a senior teacher at Bethlehem Boys RC, which Duke once attended, she said he was well-loved because of his strong-willed nature.

“Akid took any responsibility given to him seriously. His teachers held him in high esteem and that was displayed in what he was entrusted with. His primary school class, when left to their own devices, could be heard all the way across the street, but Akid usually took one of two stances – either he would fit himself in a class where there is a teacher so his name could not be called or he sat in his class with a book, revising. He was able to stand up for himself while maintaining respect.

“As his family suffers so does his primary school, and no doubt his secondary school who looked forward and anticipated the change that he would have brought to this country,” Warner said.

Relatives, friends and schoolmates alike all wept as they said their final farewells to Duke at the Sacred Heart Church on Richmond Street in Port of Spain. Fellow students and friends came to the funeral dressed in black, with printed jerseys and face masks which read “LLC.” Newsday asked one friend of the dead teenager what LLC meant, and he said: “Long Live Chuffie,” which was Duke’s nickname.

As his casket was taken to the hearse for the final journey to the Woodbrook Cemetery, Duke’s mother screamed out his name and, so overcome with grief, collapsed into the arms of relatives who carried her away.

Earlier during the service, Rev Fr Emmanuel Dafe said the outpouring of grief by so many was testament that though just 15, Duke had touched the lives of many.

“He touched a lot of people by the way he lived his life, the way he related to people and the way he related to his fellow students. That is why this church is filled to capacity and so many people are outside wanting to pay respects to him,” Dafe said.

Last Tuesday, at about 3 pm, Duke was sitting in the passenger seat of a taxi parked at 12th Avenue in Bon Air Gardens. He was waiting on his mother who had gone for a job interview.

He was playing video games on his cellphone in the car, when a gunman approached the vehicle from the front and began shooting before running off.

Duke was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Home where he died later. Police who said this was a case of mistaken identity, later recovered 12 spent .40 mm calibre shells at the scene. Duke’s killer remains at large.