Veronie King, of Mason Hall, Tobago, was laid to rest at the Bacolet Public Cemetery on Thursday, following a church service at the Open Bible Church, Mt Grace.

Delivering the sermon, Pastor Rawle Reid called on the youths to put down their guns, and encouraged the congregation not to be afraid of death, nor let it paralyse them.

Reid said despite the high crime rate, he believes things can change in Trinidad and Tobago.

Using a somewhat unexpected method, he walked down the aisle of the church, trying to search for the person who took King's life and called on her murderer to repent.

"We are living in the last days and crime seems to be the order of the day. And I don't like it.

"I am angered by deaths like these. The is the second or third death of this kind happening here," Reid said.

While there is physical death, Reid said there may be a number of persons in Parliament, and maybe in the Assembly, who are also spiritually dead.

"Family members need to rise above this and live a contributing life. If the criminals fail to repent, they will go to hell. People have lost the fear of God and that leads to the beginning of stupidity. When the murderer is caught—family members, please leave it in the hands of God," Reid noted.

Reid prayed for the murderer to not rest until he surrenders to justice, and stressed the favourite words of the deceased: "God is in control."

In a moving tribute filled with tears and laughter, sister of the deceased Shirley Cooke, in delivering the eulogy, said her sister's greatest love was gardening and her death was on the birthday of their mother, who was also deceased.

King, 55, was murdered in her garden last Friday afternoon, at Smithfield, Scarborough. According to an autopsy report, she sustained two chops to the neck. Officers are following several leads in breaking the case.