B.C. doctor slain in Bahamas home
Dr. Geoffrey Harding was not there to greet the workers when they arrived at his bungalow in the Bahamas Thursday morning.
It was odd, since the 88-yearold often brought them coffee or water before they started their work, landscaping the property.
So after a while, they went inside to check on Dr. Harding.
He was found, lying in a pool of blood on the floor, dead from multiple stab wounds to the head and chest, a family member said Monday.
Judging from the scene, police believe the retired B.C. doctor was likely reading in an easy chair Wednesday night when he was attacked, said his son-in-law, Thor Pruckl. There was a book nearby.
“It’s the end of a dream for him. Not a nice end, but an end,” Mr. Pruckl said over the phone Monday from the house near Clarence Town on Long Island, with the doctor’s cat meowing in the background.
“He had always wanted this, always wanted to retire on the island. We’ve lost a really decent guy. You know? Just a really decent guy who’s not here.”
Police have taken a suspect into custody, according to Mr. Pruckl and local media reports. The Royal Bahamas Police detective in charge of the case refused to answer questions about the murder. Local media identified the suspect as Moses Morris, 43. He served 20 years in a Nassau prison for manslaughter and is also being held for other break-ins on the island.
Dr. Harding spent the winter at the house and was planning to return to B.C. at the end of the month. He retired from practising medicine around 2008 in Gabriola Island, B.C. — where “roars of laughter” often emanated from his consultation room, colleague James Mackenzie recalled on Monday. “Never did I dream … that this is how he would meet his demise.”