[UPDATED] Duke: I will ban 'killing' music

PROGRESSIVE Democratic Patriots (PDP) political leader Watson Duke says he will ban “killing music” if he is ever given the chance to lead TT.

He spoke at the funeral of Zachary Lindow at the Pembroke Anglican Church, Tobago, on January 7.

Lindow, 21, a salesman of Top Hill, Pembroke, was shot and killed while working at the Bacolet convenience store on December 23. He was the island's 26th murder victim for 2024.

Addressing mourners, an emotional Duke said, “I am saying this now, one of the things that I will do if God allows me the opportunity to lead this country, I will ban any type of 'killing' music. I doh care, I will ban it. Any type of 'kill, kill' music – I banning it.

“It could be from Jamaica, Vybz Kartel, it could be from here. I banning that. Nobody could glorify killing, because killing could never be a right thing if you didn’t give life. So I banning that.”

The Belle Garden East/Roxborough/Delaford assemblyman also said he would ban what he called “bad gyal music.

“It is as bad as the 'kill' music. I have seen women deteriorate from being this level to that level and they have now become pretty pipers. They all want to know what you have to offer.”

Duke said the country was losing too many of its young people to gun violence.

“Folks, we cannot touch one without touching the other. We are losing our boys and our girls. The worst type of death is the death you have when you are alive and you still walking around. There is no meaning to your life. That is the worst type of death.

"And so, when you see the tears today, I am crying for a community that has lost it.”

Saying he is originally from Roxborough but lives in Moriah, Duke said he often passes through Golden Lane, which Tobago police have identified as one of the island’s hotspot communities.

“Every day I pass through Golden Lane and I meet up all the guys on the block. So when I saw the next young man die in spite of what they say, I recognise a lot of our young people are dead just waiting to be buried.

“They have no feelings again when I say they dead. The boys have no feelings, they could take a life. And the girls have no feeling. They could do it twice, three and four times and eh study nothing once they get paid.”

He was referring to the murder of 15 year-old schoolboy Beris Joseph, whose body was found in Black Rock on January 4.

The Signal Hill Secondary School student was said to have been known to the police and wanted for questioning over a shooting. Joseph was Tobago’s first murder victim for 2025.

Duke said, “Folks, we have to pay attention to our children. Please, I begging yuh. When somebody’s hardworking son dies, it means anybody could get it. Whether you are working or going to church, whether you are a decent young boy or girl, it could happen.”

He said he does not believe the men who killed Lindow had set out to do so.

“But they played with that thing they call a gun, and all a gun wants is trigger strength. And sometimes they pull it and they recognise how easy it is for a man to die.”

Duke urged, “If anybody here has a gun and you not in the army, you not in the police, please give it up to the police. Return it, surrender your gun. Doh keep it, because the funny thing is that it makes you feel powerful, when that power only comes from the Devil.”

He also appealed to the congregation, “Stop encouraging perpetrators.”

Duke said Lindow’s murder is an example of how fleeting and unpredictable life is.

THA deputy chief secretary Dr Faith Brebnor, who also spoke, said she was moved by the outpouring of support for Lindow at a candlelight vigil in Pembroke on January 6.

“As a community, you guys did something great. You celebrated his life. You stood for the good that he has been and represented and you showed all of us that we have positivity still,” she said.

Brebnor, assemblyman for Belle Garden/Glamorgan, said Lindow’s death was especially painful.

“I think it hits different when you know that he was kind, loving, caring, hardworking and didn’t trouble nobody. That is exactly what we need in the community and on the island.”

In the midst of the pain, she urged mourners to spread love.

“I am saying to each of you, as much as we may be hurting and as much as we may be sad and as much as we may be angry, let us use the energy that we have to look at the person standing or sitting next to you to say to them, 'I love you, I care for you,' to say to them, possibly, 'I forgive you,' because we have the ability to do it. Other things will take care of those other people (perpetrators).”

This story has been updated to include additional details. See original post below.

PROGRESSIVE Democratic Patriots (PDP) political leader Watson Duke says he will ban “killing music” if he is ever given the chance to lead Trinidad and Tobago.

He was speaking at the funeral of Zachary Lindow at the Pembroke Anglican Church on January 7.

Lindow, 21, a salesman of Top Hill, Pembroke, was shot dead while working at the Bacolet convenience store on December 23. He was Tobago’s 26th murder victim for 2024.

Addressing mourners, an emotional Duke said, “One of the things that I will do if God allows me the opportunity to lead this country, I will ban any type of killing music. I doh care, I will ban it. Any type of 'kill, kill' music, I banning it.

“It could be from Jamaica. It could be from here, I banning that.
"Nobody could glorify killing, because killing could never be a right thing if you didn’t give life. So I banning that.”

The Belle Garden East/Roxborough/Delaford assemblyman also said he would ban what he called “bad gyal music."

“It is as bad as the 'kill' music. I have seen women deteriorate from being this level to that level and they have now become pretty pipers. They all want to know what you have to offer.”

Duke said the country was losing too many of its young people to gun violence.

“Folks, we cannot touch one without touching the other. We are losing our boys and our girls. The worst type of death is the death you have when you are alive and you still walking around. There is no meaning to your life. That is the worst type of death.
"And so when you see the tears today, I am crying for a community that has lost it.”