Conductor’s murder: “My son was provoked for years”, says mother of suspect

By LaWanda McAllister

The family of 27-year-old Paul Lynch, the conductor who fatally stabbed minibus tout Morven Nurse to death, has claimed that he was provoked into retaliation, and added that the men had had a grievance that had been ongoing for years.
Lynch turned himself in to the custody of the Police hours after the fatal stabbing of Nurse, but is yet to be charged for the heinous crime.

During an interview with Guyana Times on Saturday, Lynch’s relatives and friends expressed the belief that provocation had led to the crime.
Nurse, called “Tupac”, was stabbed to death by Lynch on the East Coast Demerara Bus Park during an argument.
Lynch’s best friend, Asheka Douglas, who witnessed the incident, related that the suspect had walked away several times, but Nurse kept approaching and provoking him.
“I even hold him back, but Morven Nurse keep pushing himself towards him. I talked to both of them…when Pauly went to the Police officer that was on the park to report that this boy was harassing him, the officer curse him [Lynch] about his mother. After Pauly walked away from him, Tupac run behind him and still keep attacking him”, Douglas related.

“There is no video showing Tupac doing Pauly anything, just with Pauly doing Tupac this and that…that was more like self-defence, because he actually defended himself”, Douglas concluded.
Meanwhile, the suspect’s mother, Burnelleen Lynch, also explained that her son retaliated only after being tormented for years by the now dead man. She said Nurse had had several altercations with her son over the years, which had led to her making Police reports against him.
“When my son was going to school, this boy Morven would see him and beat him up. He also came home countless times with bungee in his head, his head thing-up. He would take bricks and pelt him. I would go and complain to the mother, she would say, ‘Get out of them children story’
“I made countless reports, because he [Morven] run both of my sons. They were coming home, and more that often he would get them running up the road. Even with cutlasses. They would come home breathless, and one time Morven go on his knees and tell them he would murder them,” she explained.
The suspect’s mother added that the situation had reached a point where the victim had promised to burn their house down. She related that in one incident, she and the victim’s mother had tried to make peace between these two males, but as they grew older, their conflict got worse.

“They both worked on the park, and many times when I am coming home from work, Morven on the attack. I would see a big crowd, and when I go is Morven and Pauly or Morven and Sammy [her other son]. I does got to be in the middle holding them to make peace. He [Nurse] is always the aggressive one”, she said.
The mother added that though she is saddened by Nurse’s passing, and sympathises with his family, it is no secret that her son had been provoked for years by the victim.
“I tell my children ‘If you live by it, you will die by it’, that is why myself and husband turned our son in. I told my son that God is our vindicator…I told him he did wrong, but I know it came because of years of provocation”.
The woman said that for years her son had been bullied by persons, not only Nurse, but others with whom he came into contact, and that is because he does not retaliate.
“Many times he come home and show me bores about his body… people would slap my son and he would walk away, because he always believes in peace. It is because they see he is soft, that is why… The other day somebody spit in his face; he come home and cried…,” she said.
“My son did not premeditate to murder Morven. Two Police officers were out there. Them and everybody skinning their teeth, and nobody did not try to part them. It could have been avoided. It could have been your son, your brother, but everybody was on their phone like it was a show,” she lamented.
Lynch’s mother underscored that she is being attacked even on social media because her son committed the offence, “but no one knows the depth of the situation,” she further lamented.
“Everybody does do my son all kinds of things. OH MY GOD! He defended himself! I am not saying what he did was right, but put yourself in his situation and someone was coming to take your life, wouldn’t you try to protect yourself?” the tearful woman asked.
Following the incident, the Police issued a wanted bulletin for the suspect, and he subsequently turned up at the station in the company of his attorney. His mother said her son had to be taken to the hospital several times by Police after he was hit in the head by Nurse during Wednesday’s altercation.
“He [Nurse] pick up drinks case and lash him in his head. Right now, my son is in hospital vomiting blood. Since the day when we hand him in he was vomiting blood…”, she said.