The murder of 36-year-old Marcyn King is a dangerous development, the PNCR said yesterday, and it called on government to take urgent action to protect the lives of relatives of persons on the police’s wanted list.
King’s brother is wanted man Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlin. Police have offered a $50 million reward for information, which could lead to his arrest.
King was shot dead on Monday night while on her way home from work. It is unclear whether any spent shells were recovered from the crime scene on Monday night and up to press time last night the police had said nothing further as regards investigations into the killing.
However yesterday the police visited the family’s D’Andrade Street home and statements were given by family members. A post-mortem examination is to be performed on King’s body today.
Hours after the shooting, the police had said that a white car drove up beside the woman and a man exited and discharged several rounds from a firearm hitting her about the body. However, yesterday an eyewitness told this newspaper that the woman’s assailant had exited a brown car. The source also said the car sped off immediately after.
In a strongly worded statement yesterday, the PNCR condemned the woman’s murder, saying that the circumstances in which she was killed bore all the hallmarks of “a hired gun for a reprisal killing”. The party also called on the Joint Services to redouble their efforts and said it was concerned that such an apparent revenge execution could lead to retaliation.
“The party therefore believes that the security forces should redouble their efforts to prevent possible tit for tat retaliation killings which can only fuel the socially corrosive cycle of violence and further threaten the social fabric of the society,” the statement said.
“For some time now it had been the party’s contention that contract killers, pointing to the existence of phantom organisations, are abroad in this society with scant regard for human life.”
The PNCR said this recent incident further highlights the need for the PPP/C administration to urgently implement a holistic national security strategy supported by all national stakeholders to ensure the protection of all the citizens.
The party said the contract killing phenomenon must cause Guyanese to reflect on the nature of the socialisation process and the causal factors including the role of the family and the education system.
King’s mother Margaret Rawlins, who is still coming to grips with her daughter’s murder, recounted to this newspaper how quiet her daughter was. “She is always a person to come home straight after work and look after her children and then she cloaks up with a book,” the woman said.
She said growing up Marcyn was always a quiet and peaceful child who did not get into trouble.
Meanwhile, managers and employees at King’s place of work yesterday recalled her pleasant personality. Rentokil Initial Limited Managing Director Bruce Roberts told Stabroek News that the woman’s persona was one that all the staff had appreciated.
He said King had been with the company for close to 12 years and had worked her way up. At the time of her death she was supervisor of the company’s health care department. “She was probably the only employee who worked here for so long and did not have a disciplinary letter in her file,” Roberts said.
He said King was always a quiet person and always had her head in a romance novel. “As soon as you missed her, she was reading; always with a book,” he added.
He said that as a worker she was always punctual, mannerly and decent. Replacing King would be hard for Rentokil, since, according to Roberts, “you hardly find people these days who stay on the job for so long and are dedicated.”
