Well-known gold and diamond dealer Joseph Hillaire was last night found dead with a single gunshot wound to the head and police investigators believe that he committed suicide.
Popularly known as `Uncle Joe’, Hillaire resided at Brickdam and Lime Street. His body is at Lyken’s Funeral home awaiting a post-mortem examination.
A senior police officer this morning confirmed that the case is being treated as a suicide. The officer said that the man who was discovered by a relative around 23:00 hours was shot once to the head.
A gun with matching rounds was found near the body.
Seventy-two-year-old Hillaire was suffering from colon cancer for several years and found out last week that it had spread to his lungs and kidneys, the man’s son said.
Speaking this morning at the family home located at Lot 57 B Brickdam, Stabroek where Hillaire’s jewellery and Gift Shop is also housed, Joseph Hillaire Junior said that his father was receiving chemotherapy in Trinidad.
The younger Hillaire said that his father had told his daughter that he couldn’t bear the pain any longer but he said that his father had never displayed suicidal tendencies.
He said that from all indications his father shot himself with his licensed firearm which was found nearby.
