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Diaspora piles pressure on Bajan police to find killer of Guyanese woman
Three days after a mother of two, Onica King, was slain while on her job as a nail technician in Swan Street, Bridgetown, the perpetrator is still at large and the police have not released a photograph of the suspect.
Though issuing a wanted man bulletin for the victim’s husband David King, in relation to the matter the day after the incident rocked Barbados’ capital and sent tremors of shock across the island and around the Caribbean, police have not shared his picture yet.
The incident happened around 3:00 pm on #41 Swan Street on Saturday, April 14 and the bulletin was issued on Sunday, April 15.
Stating that the public is encouraged to continue to share tips with the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF), Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss, the Public Relations Officer for the police confirmed to Loop News yesterday morning, that to date they still have not sent out his photo. “We issued a wanted person notice initially, we have not sent a photograph,” he stated.
The crowd at the scene of the killing. Victim Onica King is inset (Loop News photo)
Yesterday on social media, there were rumours of the suspect being at the Grantley Adams International Airport.
But Inniss added, “We haven’t seen him, we haven’t gotten him as yet either, but we want to encourage the public to keep calling. The public has been calling giving us some information. We’ve checked out all those leads, they haven’t produced anything.”
The deceased, Onica King is a 36-year-old Guyanese and Guyanese in the Diaspora are airing concerns about how her case is being handled.
Speaking to Loop, Guyanese-born Malika Clarke, who is a citizen of the United States, said:
“We are highly outraged since with loss of Bibi and Brenda Tailor between 2008 and 2015 and now Onica King. We need justice! They can find all of them… and they need to get up and act now.”
Calling on the Police and the Police Commissioner to “step up”, she explained that “Bibi Hasim was a Guyanese who was killed in 2009 in Barbados by her husband; he got 15 years. Brenda Taylor-Belle died the same way and no justice, and now it’s Onica King right before her children eyes.”
Saturday night, hours after the fatal stabbing, Clarke said that people were sharing the suspect’s name and picture, yet at that time, police had not released such. She was saying, “The suspect picture is released. What is taking the police department in Barbados so long to release his name?
“Guyanese in the Diaspora and in our homeland are asking why is the Barbados Police department taking so long to release the suspect name and they have his picture.”
Since then the wanted man bulletin was issued by the RBPF but a photo remains absent from the notice.
Clarke lives in the U.S. and is employed at the New York City, Department of Education, she reiterated, “We are outraged!”
Additionally, she expressed feelings of despair asking, “Why is it just us? We need Justice! Whether it’s happening periodically, it should not happen at all; whether Guyanese or not.”
And she called for harsher consequences when persons are taken into custody and ultimately charged.
“There should be tougher penalties for whoever think this type of violence is the answer. It is not! Value our Women! The Barbados government should have a dedicated Commission set up to help women over there despite their status or what they do. As long as there is fear, deal with it swiftly.”
Noting that King’s six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter, unfortunately, saw their mother lying in a pool of her blood at the scene of the crime, she said, “This drilled a hole in those children heart for life. God! We are speaking out against violence against women and there should be a turning around now. To destroy our women is to destroy our communities.
“Our prayers are with those children who are mourning the loss of their mother. We are sorry you had to experience such a tragic ending of your mother.”
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