The family of a retired B.C. doctor says the senior was stabbed to death during a home invasion in the Bahamas.
Geoffrey Harding was an accomplished family doctor who practiced in small communities in Saskatchewan and B.C. before retiring 10 years ago.
The 88-year-old regularly visited the island nation after purchasing land several decades ago and building a home three years ago.
His son-in-law, Thor Pruckl, said the 88-year-old was killed on April 1st after an intruder broke into his home in the small community of Long Island.
The police told the family it appears he was reading in an easy chair around 11 p.m. when an intruder burst in.
“[He had] multiple stab wounds in the chest," said Pruckl.
Harding was well-liked in the small island hamlet where he has spent the past few winters.
“He was a very gentle person. He would have given the shirt off his back,” said Pruckl.
While police believe robbery was the motivation, Pruckl said the senior lived a modest life, and wasn’t a wealthy man.
“He didn’t have any money. It wasn’t like he was living in a mansion there or anything like that. It was a very modest two-bedroom bungalow,” he said.
A local man in his 40s has been arrested and is expected to be charged with murder.
Harding practiced as a general practitioner and gynecologist in the Middle East and England before moving to Canada. He spent his career working in small communities from Dawson Creek to Williams Lake and New Westminster.
“He went where he felt he could do the most good,” said Pruckl. “Between being a GP and gynecologist, you don’t see much of that in smaller communities.”
He leaves behind five daughters.
