A father’s tale of anguish and hope after son’s death

THERE WAS a time, in the not too distant past, when the accepted way to settle a schoolyard dispute was via a fist fight. Clearly, any and all forms of violence should be condemned and avoided at all costs, but human nature dictates that tempers will rise from time to time and rows will ensue.

Normally, the protagonists would go at it hard until wiser heads broke up the scrap, with wounded pride and a few cuts and bruises the full extent of the damage.

That may have been the way it once was, but there’s a frightening dimension to disputes among the youth of today which is explored in ‘The Prince Of Peace’.

This book’s front cover sub-title is ‘The fight no father can prepare for’, and it refers to the sense of helplessness felt by English boxer Mark Prince when his talented 15-year-old son, Kiyan, was stabbed to death outside his school.

The victim was a very talented footballer who was on the books of London club Queens Park Rangers at the time, while his father had been a champion inside the ring after surviving a tough upbringing.

Kiyan had intervened when what seemed like a play fight involving a friend suddenly turned nasty, and he paid the ultimate price as he was knifed to death.

Not surprisingly, his father was devastated, and the pain of that day will never leave him.

However, he has managed to channel some of his negative energy into a positive by establishing the Kiyan

Prince Foundation which is dedicated to educating young people and tackling the knife culture that has resulted in far too many deaths in the major cities in England in particular.

When Mark was a young boxer he fought in order to provide for his family, but the wheel has turned full circle. Shortly after Kiyan’s death, and by now in his early 40s, he returned to the ring but this time the aim was to raise funds for the foundation.

The book generally follows a chronological path, and it outlines a grim childhood for Mark and his siblings as their father was a tyrant behind closed doors, prone to explode with an unexplained rage at any given moment and inflict physical pain on his family.

Even his sister was targeted, and one instance when she received a nasty eye injury courtesy of her cowardly father’s belt makes for a particularly unpalatable segment of the book.

It’s perhaps no surprise that Mark was drawn to petty crime and drugs in his late teenage years as a result, but he found redemption in the boxing ring like so many others in this position.

And he developed into a very talented fighter, winning the WBO light heavyweight intercontinental title in the late 1990s.

He had a chance to defend it against Chris Eubank, one of the truly big names of the era, but it never came to pass.

Mark was offered a £25,000 purse but wanted double that amount, and the bout fell through the cracks as agreement couldn’t be reached between the rival promoters. It marked a turning point in his career, and it’s a decision he regrets to this very day.

It pales into utter insignificance, though, compared to the moment his world was shattered by Kiyans death. It took three trials before his assailant was sentenced to 13 years in prison, with the second one ending abruptly when Mark had words with a juror outside the court.

It’s a tragic tale on the whole, but it ends with the hope that Kiyan’s death won’t have been entirely in vain.

ALAN AHERNE

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