On every December 18th in the preceding four years, Tooney Peneux’s family, particularly his parents, looked forward to him returning home to spend Christmas. This year, they only had their memories of him, his father Laddy Peneux said.
Tooney was one of four Guyana Defence Force (GDF) ranks who lost their lives following a pyrotechnic explosion on April 30th at Base Camp Stephenson, at Timehri, East Bank Demerara.
After the explosion, the families of Peneux, Lance Corporal Kevon Nicholson, 23, of Levi Dam, Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, Private Shaqueel DeHart, 20, of Paradise Village, West Coast Berbice, and Seon Rose of Friendship, East Coast Demerara, have been calling on the GDF to provide a detailed explanation of the events leading up to their deaths. It was the second of two such explosions.