“Senseless” and “disgusted” were some of the words used by chair of the Tobago Chapter of the Trinidad Chamber to describe how she felt about the murder of gyro businessman Elias Dabbourah.
The funeral service for the 30-year-old was held yesterday morning.
Dabbourah, from Syria, succumbed to his injuries at the Scarborough General Hospital on Saturday after he was shot at point-blank range in his head at his Crown Point business place on September 9.
Aside from Dian Hadad, Minority Council leader Watson Duke also attended.
Dabbourah’s death brings Tobago’s 2019 murder count to seven.
Delivering the homily, Father Pierre, said his killing was a “senseless act” and “senseless loss.” He said it also made the family question why it happened to them.
“There are no simple answers to that question, at a time and a moment like this. Those questions are hard to answer when the person has lived a whole life...You are paralyzed in the face of this,” Father Pierre said.
He said time will heal their wounds. He said they should console each other knowing, “he (Dabbourah) is with God. He is alive in another place.”
In paying tribute, Deborah’s brother-in-law, Thaer Hourani, said they missed his smile.
He said the gyro businessman had studied, for the priesthood for four years, before taking another path.
He described him as “sweet, kind, considerate and generous.” Hourani said his death left the family “with huge wounds in their hearts.”
The family arrived one hour before the scheduled 10 am at the start of the funeral and stood around the casket grieving.
His wife, Salli Hourari, opened his casket briefly, spoke in her native language and closed the casket again.
During the entrance and exit procession of the casket, Arabic music played softly in the church.
At the burial site, Father Ambrose of the Eastern Orthodox Church performed Arabic rites.
After the burial, businesswoman Diane Hadad commented on Dabbourah’s murder. Visibly shaken she said, “I am sad and disgusted by the senselessness,” Hadad told Guardian Media.
Holding back tears, she said: “He was a friend to everybody. When will the senselessness be over in our country? This is not where our country and our people need to be. Frankly, this needs to come to an end immediately.”
And Tobago House of Assembly’s opposition leader Duke said he was also “saddened” by the situation.
“It’s time for immigrants to be protected and given a path to citizenship. Immigrants should feel as secure as citizens. We need to do more to ensure immigrants, who have achieved a particular amount of years, without any criminal records... be given citizenship,” Duke said.