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Posted: Saturday 21 January, 2012 at 9:48 AM

A father’s thoughts on his murdered son

Michael ‘Mick Stokes’ Heyliger and his murdered son Zamique
By: Terresa McCall, SKNVibes.com

    Mick Stokes remembers Zamique 
     
    BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – HE wears a smile that can light up any room, but heavy on his mind and in his heart is a tragedy which he experienced less than a month ago; one which he says he would never wish upon anyone.
     
    Michael ‘Mick Stokes’ Heyliger lost the last of his seven children, 17-year-old Zamique Heyliger, on December 24, 2011, who died after being stabbed several times by a number of individuals while on Nevis.

     

    Zamique, said to be of Newtown, St. Kitts, had moved to Nevis when he secured gainful employment there with RAMS Supermarket.
     
    And now, as ‘Mick’ explained to this publication, he would no longer be able to cast his eyes on his son’s smile and is constantly reminded that he would never see that smile again. But he is however thankful for the moments they had spent together and the memories they shared.
     
    A jeweller, drummer and singer, ‘Mick’ recalled the fondest memory he has of his son.
     
    “My fondest memory of him is that he would come by me and he would just play the drums. I never taught him to play drums…he was just naturally gifted. Sometimes when I listened to him, I thought to myself, ‘There is my future” because I knew if he continued he would have been an awesome, awesome drummer. He was really into music naturally. I never taught him but he felt that he wanted to be a musician somewhere along the line. He reminded me of myself as a kid when I was growing up.”
     
    Mick says he remembers clearly receiving news of his son’s demise and the emotion which ran through his body when he did.
     
    “I first heard of it from my daughter who got a text from a friend in Nevis that they stabbed him up. She called me and said, ‘Daddy, Zamique dead’. I just broke down and I started to cry because I thought, ‘Lord, me son gone.’ He died so far from me and I couldn’t even jump in a car and go to see him because it was like he was overseas. So that hit really, really deep and I am sorry that I didn’t get a chance to talk to him before he died. I spoke to him a few days before but not on that day…

     

    “When we last spoke, he told me he was more into his drumming and was playing in a church.”

     

    Expectedly, Zamique’s father is irate about his death and the manner in which he was killed, but however noted that he deals with it by occupying himself with the people he meets on a daily basis.
    “I am angry because I don’t think he deserved to die like that. But I am a godly person, a spiritual person and I am not one who would seek revenge. It is a feeling that I can’t really explain…I had seven children and now I only have six. I am very unhappy he had to go like that…He was just like me. I was never always on the straight line but look at me today. I have my own business, I have my own house, I am a drummer, a singer, I have a band and I have been travelling all over the world…I was hungry for him to be like that.

     

    “I don’t really want to dwell on it because the more I dwell on it the more down I feel. I am a people-person and I prefer to know that the people occupy my mind than think about that. I received condolences from people all over the world and they have really been there for me, giving me inspiration. I am feeding off of that…I don’t let it pull me down. It is an experience that I don’t want any other mother or father to go through or experience.”

     

    Zamique’s mother Arlene Hull, as Mick explained, is also devastated by her son’s loss and “she breaks down every now and then and wants to know why they had to do that to him, and she is taking it very hard, especially because he used to live with her”.

     

    He cannot bring back his son but now Mick only asks that he is granted justice.

     

    “All I need is justice, all I need is justice and I am glad that they found the individuals who did it, and I hope that when the time comes God will grant me justice. But I really, really miss my son.”

     

    Today, he remembers his son as one who loved cars and wanted to build them. One who wanted to become an artiste and he remembers him as his prince.

     

    He was laid to rest on January 6, 2012 and Mick says he would always remember and cherish the moments they shared.
     
    “I am thankful for the years that I had with him. The short time I spent with him is an experience which I will never ever forget. They took him from me but God knows why. Maybe God wanted him up there to play in the band…”

     

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