Family Want Canada To Pressure Murder Case
The family of murder victim George Lynch want the Canadian Federal Government to “pressure the Bermudian Government to bring the killers to justice in the death of a Canadian citizen”.
Mr Lynch, a born Jamaican, moved to Canada when he was 25 and was a naturalized Canadian, as are some of his family members.
He had a degree from York University, and worked at King Edward Hospital as a houseman. His Bermudian wife Nekesha Holdipp is a teacher at Victor Scott School, they have two daughters together, are expecting another child shortly, and Mr Lynch was also stepfather to Ms. Holdipp’s oldest son Enharo.
He was shot dead on May 5th at the Midland Heights residence of a witness in the Temasgan Furbert assault trial. The house also happened to be the exact same place the initial assault took place, and Mr Furbert’s family homestead. Mr Lynch was standing outside the residence with two persons [who have not been named] when he was shot once in the chest, dying shortly after.
His family says that Mr Lynch was an innocent man in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he “paid for it with his life”.
Mr Lynch’s family say “he went to a neighbours house to help out, not knowing the neighbour was the target of men charged in an assault case”. Although the Bermuda police would not officially confirm if the Temasgan Furbert trial and murder were related, calling it a “giant leap” to assume they are related, the two crimes are widely believed amongst locals to have been related.
His brother Clinton said he believes gang members killed Mr Lynch, and said if it doesn’t stop with his brother, “where does it stop, a 10 year old child?” His father, Leonard Lynch, spoke highly of his son, calling him a warm loving person.
The family also said that the two men who were arrested have “since disappeared”. On May 6th the police arrested two men in a dramatic scene outside of Supreme Court, immediately after they were cleared of the assault charges stemming from 2009. They are free on police bail.
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House which both the 2009 assault incident, and May 2010 murder of Mr Lynch took place
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Bermuda has previously had an incident involving the murder of a Canadian citizen, in which the subsequent legal decisions surrounding the case were widely criticized.
Most Bermudians will recall the tragic murder of Rebecca Middleton in July 1996, in which the 17 year old tourist was raped, tortured and stabbed to death in Ferry Reach. The incident was, and remains, one of the most gruesome crimes to have ever been committed on the island.
Prior to receiving the DNA results back, the office of the Attorney General [who was Barbadian Elliot Motley] plea bargained with 21 yr old Jamaican national Kirk Mundy, letting him plead guilty to being an accessory to the murder, receiving 5 years prison time.
When the DNA proof came in, it was determined the Kirk Mundy himself appeared to have committed the crime, with only his semen found in Ms. Middleton.
When the murder occurred, Mr Mundy was out on bail for the 1995 robbery of a bank security van, for which he later received a 16 year sentence. It is whispered the sentence for the unrelated robbery may have been especially severe due to the Middleton case. 17 year old Justis Smith was tried for Ms. Middleton’s murder, and acquitted. In 2003, Mr. Smith was convicted of stabbing another lady.
The handling of Middleton case was been widely criticized by numerous parties, including a substantial amount of Bermudians. The efforts of the Middleton family and friends to get justice have been well documented over the years. In March 2006, ten years after the murder, Cherie Booth, a prominent British lawyer, and wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair, joined forces with the Middleton family. As of 2010, family and friends of Ms Middleton are now asking the European Court of Human Rights to find Bermuda and the UK guilty of failing in their obligations to respect the murdered 17 yr olds human rights.
You can view a video news report with the family of George Lynch here.
