Guyanese-born Bajan businessman killed in robbery

May 07, 2019 News

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Barbados (Barbados Today)- A killer’s single bullet just after midnight Saturday night took 46-year-old Eton Lyken away from his family. He was their sole breadwinner.
Since receiving word of the tragedy, Lyken’s girlfriend of five years, Mia Kirton, feels as though her life has been turned upside-down.

With tears falling on to her daughter, Angel, as she sat on her lap fussing and crying, 22-year-old Kirton said it’s a painful experience trying to figure out what life would now be like for their three young children – three-year-old Amya, one-year-old Angel, and four-month-old Eton.
Lyken was also the father of an older child.
A Police report said the incident occurred around 12:25 a.m. at an area between Country Park Towers Block #5 and Highrise, Block #1, near Country Road, St Michael.
Lyken and Andrew Michael Vanderpool, of Apt 5E, Country Towers, St Michael, were having a conversation, while seated in a motor vehicle. They were approached and surprised by a man who had his face hidden with a scarf.
The man who had a firearm, ordered both men out of the vehicle, and proceeded to rob them of cash and valuables.

During the ordeal, a gunshot was heard, and Lyken fell to the ground. The killer fled the scene on foot. Vanderpool was unhurt.
“I still can’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. I would really like justice to be served because a man dead for no reason; someone who use to help out any and everybody. Junior use to pick up people from off of the road and help them.
“He would pick up people off of the road to come and work. And I use to tell Junior be

careful who you picking up off of the road, because everybody you smile at ain’t you friend,” Kirton said, as she fought back tears during an interview with members of the media, at the Beckles Road, St Michael home she shared with Lyken.
The Guyana-born Lyken who owned and managed Eton’s Bakery and Eton’s Variety, also located at Beckles Road, operated the popular bread stall at Weymouth, St Michael, close to Globe Cinema. He employed about six people.
Kirton said it was a mystery to her why somebody would have taken the life of her beloved partner, whom she described as a hardworking, helpful, progressive, pushy and giving individual who often told customers to take what they wanted even if they did not have enough money.
She said very often people told Lyken they had nothing to eat for the day, and he gave them a bread and drink.
At the time Lyken met his untimely death, Kirton was at home trying to get Angel to sleep. She said that for some strange reason, the little girl appeared to be cranky and unwilling to close her eyes.
She said she thought she was dreaming when she got the call from Vanderpool, that the father of her children, whom she saw about an hour before he died, was killed.
“I find Angel ain’t sleeping. Angel moving all the time like if something wrong. Angel ain’t going to sleep at all. Then around 12:30, I still trying to put her to sleep. When she drink she tea, Angel would normally go to sleep herself. But he fed Angel before he left. And then at 12:45, I get a phone call from Andrew saying Mia, them just shoot uncle in he head.
“I say ‘Andrew you serious, you can’t be tricking me’. Then Andrew sister come on the phone and say ‘yes Mia, he here laying down dead’. When I went down there and view the body, he was there laying down on the ground in a pool of blood,” said a sobbing Kirton.
“We had a good relationship to tell you the honest truth. The only thing he would quarrel with me about is tidying, because since I get the children the place would be a little untidy,” she added.
Kirton said she was still trying to spread the word about her partner’s death, to his family living overseas, including his mother.
Sitting next to Kirton was her brother, Jamar Kirton, who said he was not only shocked at the manner in which Lyken lost his life, but he was also saddened that four young children will now have to grow without a father’s love and care.
“He use to push me to do certain things. He pushed me to buy a van and he encouraged me to try to get a business. We had our own little one and two difficulties but we got over it. I was shocked when I heard he was dead,” Jamar said.
Meanwhile, Vanderpool was struggling to come to grips with the fact that he helplessly watched his friend and employer take his last breath.
“He died the same time he get shoot. He just fell down. I was right there and I hear the pop, and he just [gasped] and then he fall down dead,” he said.
The 43-year-old said that Lyken often shared his concerns about safety and security, especially after bread vendor, Hayden Mayers, was shot and killed at Mansion Road, Bank Hall, St Michael, last November.
“He was saying boy Andrew I got to get some kind of weapon or something. But he was saying it is best he do it the right way when he get at a certain stage or something in business he would put in an application. The business was prospering; business was picking up,” Vanderpool said.

 

 

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