"It is long overdue" Egbert Parris said of the soon to be implemented cold case squad. But he maintains that people know who killed his son Victor "Pele" Parris.

by MARIA BRADSHAW

THE ANNOUNCEMENT that the police force plans to set up a "cold case" squad to review several unsolved murders has brought relief, and some scepticism to relatives
of some murder victims.

"It is long overdue," said 81-year-old Egbert Parris, the father of Victor "Pele" Parris whose death 28 years ago on May 17, 1978, at Atlantic Shores, Christ Church remains one of the island's coldest cases.

The mysterious shooting death of this 30-year-old man, which was also one of the most sensational cases in Barbados, continues to haunt his father who still vividly remembers it as if it were yesterday.

"I would like them to hold someone because people know who did it and some have gone to their graves.

"They knew from the outset who killed him and I understand that when he was dying at the hospital he called names," Parris told SUNDAY SUN during an interview at his Mount Friendship, St Michael home yesterday.

The elderly man said he still holds out some measure of hope even though a long time has elapsed.

"A policeman who was involved in the investigations told me that it would be the hardest murder case to solve. It is all in politics, but the way they kill him . . .," he sadly recalled as his voice broke with emotion.

His son was gunned down while in the company of Hyacinth Goring, who now resides in the United States. The sensational murder has attracted two inquiries over the years.

Not forgotten

Thelma Bayne still feels the pain of the brutal death of her 18-year-old daughter Gillian Bayne, whose body was pulled from a 70-foot well at Sterling,
St Philip, three days after she went missing on August 12, 1996, from her Kirtons, St Philip home.

"It should never have become a cold case," Bayne stated during a brief telephone interview with the SUNDAY SUN.

"I still want to know who murdered Gillian. I am happy to know that they have not forgotten her, because I have been living with this pain and I need some closure and the sooner they hold someone the better for me and my health. There is someone out there still walking about," she said.

Police interviewed more than 1 000 people in this case which also sent shock waves through the country.

Back in 2003 police questioned a man who had confessed to killing four women. They later reported that he was definitely not connected to Gillian's murder.

A still grieving father is hopeful that the police will pull the cold files on one of their own in the case of Constable Brenton Phillips.

Gunned down

Constable Phillips was gunned down on January 12, 2002, while parked out with a female companion at Durants, Christ Church.

Alex Nicholas said he believes it would be difficult "after all this time" to find the two masked culprits who robbed and killed his son, who was off duty at the time.

"They would have to find the gun which matches the slug that was removed from his body," he said.

Nicholas, who broke down in tears during the interview, recalled that he wanted to offer a $5 000 reward but was dissuaded from doing so by a family member.

Propaganda

"I only had two children and he was my only son and I loved him.

"Up to yesterday I was discussing the case with someone and she was telling me about all the propaganda that people were saying – that he got shot by the police. But if he had gotten shot by a police gun he may have lived because it would have exited his body. The slug was lodged in him and he bled to death."

Nicholas is of the opinion that whoever killed his 32-year-old son is probably behind bars.

"Three years ago I did jury duty and there were two cases that were very similar to my son's. I feel they are in prison," he stated.

* mariabradshaw@nationnews.com