In the small community of Laborie there was room for speculation in the sudden death of a teenager and there was plenty of that going around. But the family of the late Kensley Hunte seemed too caught up with their loss to pay attention to anything negative that was being said.
When the STAR paid a visit to the family’s home in Laborie, close friends and family had all come over to comfort them and show their support. Some wanted to see exactly where the young boy had been found, and Kensley’s father showed them exactly where a nail had been embedded into a wooden structure next to their house.
Kensley’s 24-year-old brother found him on Friday, October 14 at about 8:25pm with a rope wrapped around his neck and the other end fastened to the nail that had been attached to the upper part of the partition. Kensley’s death is being investigated as a possible suicide.
Given the circumstances, the young boy’s parents didn’t seem to quite know what to say, but friends urged them to talk about what they’d miss most about their son. It took a while before either of them spoke, but when they did both spoke about Kensley’s love for sports—anything where he could be active—particularly athletics, cricket and football.
At school he favoured Mathematics and Spanish. His parents talked about how he’d pick up his nine-year-old brother from the Laborie Boy’s Primary School every day to take him home.
While they spoke, nine-year-old Mc Kensley Hunte stood around shyly and when asked what he’d miss about his older brother he hesitated, then replied, “I don’t know.” He later agreed that he’d miss playing with Kensley. “This was very unexpected for all of us,” said Kensley’s mother Christina Hunte.
“He was loving. He used to help a lot. He’d talk to me about everything . . . about his school, anything.”
His mother said she’d never gotten the impression that her son was sad, or depressed. She said teachers at his school never indicated he had any problems either.
Children love helping their parents, but in Kensley’s case he certainly made the extra effort, on a consistent basis, according to family and friends. The first word off everyone’s lips was about the boy’s “helpful” nature. He helped everyone no matter what—his schoolmates with homework, his parents with chores and everything else to the point that family and friends called the youngster the “second man of the house.”
“He used to go to the bank for his mother, shop for her, everything you could think of…he was always willing to do it,” a family friend told the STAR.
On a televised news broadcast earlier this week Kensley’s father Mc Kensley Elien said he’d never given his son reason to take his own life, and when the STAR visited he elaborated.
“I’m still wondering why,” said the boy’s obviously distracted father. “I still cannot believe it, for what reason? He never talked to us about anything he was having trouble with.”
Elien said he’d gotten a call with the horrific news while he was at work on Friday and immediately rushed home on a taxi.
“It was shocking to me, when I reached there I just fell down,” he retold.
“My phone fell out of my hand—they hadn’t moved his body yet. When I saw him, I uncovered him and I just collapsed.
“I wasn’t here [home] every Sunday but the times I used to be there I’d go to the beach with my sons, we’d go kayaking and
we’d play football. He used to enjoy hanging out with me. He was a very good helper and he was funny. I’ll miss everything about him.”
The family didn’t know yet when the funeral would be, but in the meantime, teachers say a shrine has been set up in his memory at Vieux Fort Comprehensive Secondary School, Campus A.
An autopsy was performed on Kensley’s body on Thursday, October 20 and according to police results showed that he died as a result of cerebral anoxia, which refers to a complete lack of oxygen to the brain, often occurring
as a result of hanging, or strangulation.
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