Fisherfolk in shock over vendor’s slaying

A grieving west coast fishing community has been struggling to come to grips with the brutal slaying of fish vendor Ronald Smokey Skeete who was allegedly stabbed to death by a young woman.

Fisherfolk in Weston, St James said that while they have been hearing troubling stories surrounding Skeete’s untimely death, they knew the 56-year-old vendor to be a man of few words but kind deeds who did not deserve to die so cruelly.

Skeete operated a stall at Weston’s Millie Ifill Fish Market where he was favoured by many customers.

It was around 11:55 on Saturday night that District “D” Police received a report about a dispute at Skeete’s home at Whopping, Orange Hill, St James.

On arrival, the officers met paramedics who were treating a woman with non-life-threatening injuries to the head and right arm.

Barbados TODAY understands that the injured female is Skeete’s partner who also worked alongside him at the fish market. A young woman is currently assisting the detectives’ probe.

The fisher folk at Weston said the market has not been the same since Skeete died. One vendor said he was shocked at the news about Skeete’s death, noting that the last time he saw him alive was on Saturday afternoon when he was preparing to close up shop for the day.

Vendor Arlette Worrell said she once had a close friend in Skeete whom she described as a good person.

Worrell told Barbados TODAY: “He wasn’t a bad buy, it is just that some people didn’t like him, and as you would know everybody cannot like you. But he always kept to himself up there in that corner. The only time you would see he come down here is if he was going to the washroom. He don’t get in nothing with nobody, he wasn’t that kind of guy.

“He would go to town and buy his fish on his truck and come back here and park the van and come in and sell. His friend would be here before he come; she would come and wash down and tidy up until he come with the fish and what in the box she would sell until he come.”

Worrell said she was particularly disturbed that Skeete was stabbed to death multiple times. She noted that Skeete’s good friend, nicknamed Black, whom he accompanied on many fishing trips, also died in similar circumstances.

“His partner gone and now he gone the same way too. It is very sad, everybody feels a way about it. I feel people got to learn to put things behind them and live along. You can’t always try to think evil about people, try to live differently,” she said.

Sharon Bellamy

Meanwhile, vendors at the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex were also saddened that the man whom they saw walking through the market almost daily was killed. Popular vendor Sharon Bellamy said Skeete was a great man whom she has known for over 20 years.

Bellamy recalled: “His girlfriend Natalie used to work alongside… me for like ten years until she joined him at Weston fish market. This was a man of very few words; he was one of a kind.

“A few times he would have brought me stuff to cook for my programme. I remember there were times when the fish market machine was not working because it was down for servicing and I can call him from St James and he would bring up my ice for me, not wanting back gas and sometimes he wouldn’t even take the funds for the ice.”

Vendor Augustine Forde said that while people have much to say about the dead, she praised Skeete as the kind of person who came to the market around 7 a.m, bought his fish and left.

“It is sad to hear how he passed. There are a lot of stories, obviously, people would say what they want off of what they hear and it will pass on. But nobody ain’t know what really went on because none of we wasn’t there. Later on, you would get a clearer idea when the Police do their investigations,” Forde said. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb

Augustine Forde