Ladies and Gentlemen relatives and friends I am here to join with you to morn the lost of a very young man Darnell Oren Webster. I have not come to talk about the good life that he had or and good things that he has accomplished because he never had a chance to have a good life, he never had a chance to accomplish any good deeds. His short life was snagged out by an assassin’s bullet. Darnell became a target of the present culture in which young men are shooting to kill other young men. It is this blood thirsty development in our society which has brought us here this afternoon to bid him good bye. If anything comes out of this gathering I hope it will be an awareness of how serious the problem has become in our society when young men callously shoot other young men and end their lives without any conscience. If we can all understand the nature of this serious problem perhaps we will as a collective group of people take part in the efforts to end this season of madness which has overtaken our country.
Darnell Oren Webster was born to Carol Webster on April 19th 1990. Ever since his birth Darnell understood the meaning of unconditional love as his mother was always very protective of him as he had this special place in her heart.
He was the second for both Stead and Carol but was often referred to as his mother’s child. During his primary years of school Carol was always insisting that he kept his head in his books. He was a very intelligent lad who effortlessly came first or within the top five of his class.
When he entered high school however, he began to change. It seems as if he fell under the influence of his companions and he began to slack in his school work. He also became very aggressive and when his mother spoke to him he would answer back. Although his mother’s love was strong the influence of his friends was stronger. And although she spoke with him and pleaded with him he went from bad to worst. His heart broken mother spend sleepless nights trying to find out how to help her son to recover and she was just on the verge of migrating to Anguilla to see whether he would changed in a different environment, she was due to leave on Sunday and he was slaughtered on Saturday night.
I am grateful to all of you who have come to show your sympathy for Darnell’s heartbroken relatives and as I say farewell to Darnell I reach out to other relatives from Basseterre, from around the island and from Newtown who are still crying over the lost of their sons in the flour of their manhood. I know it is heart wringing for you to see your young son slaughtered and I know that like Darnell’s family you are asking the question why should this have happened to you. Some of Darnell’s friends are in this audience, and I know that they are upset and angry that their friend has met his untimely end. I appeal to you however to put an end to this gang culture and turn over a new leaf in your life. Learn to follow path of peace because violence can only lead to one place, an early grave. Involve yourself in healthy recreations and find ways to serve your community instead of fighting against it. I hope that soon and very soon something will happen in our community to put and end to this madness.
I appeal to the government to take note of the pain and anguish which people are suffering from the violent death of their love ones. I hope some way will be found to stop the guns from coming into our island and to take those guns which are already here out of the hands of wayward young men.
May Darnell rest in peace and may God bless us all.
