Government and opposition senators offered tributes yesterday to people at the centre of tragedies last week, when six people lost their lives within the space of four days.

Razi Garland, 18, and Amon Robinson, 19, were fatally shot in the Scaur Hill area of Sandys at about 6.05am on July 10.

Three days before that, four people, including two young children, were found unresponsive in a South Terrace apartment in Pembroke.

They were Na-Vii Trimm-Parfitt, 4, Drae-E Trimm-Parfitt, 9, Nicole Parfitt, 39, and Ramon Trimm, 40, all of whom were later pronounced dead.

Lindsay Simmons, who is a relative of those found at the South Terrace apartment, highlighted the tragic nature of last week’s events.

The senator said that each night since the incident “I toss and turn and try to imagine how each of these families are going to be able to pick up the pieces and move forward”.

Ms Simmons, who is a cousin of Ms Parfitt, said she thinks about her aunt, “who not only has to bury my cousin but also her two grandchildren”.

She said when she met her aunt on Tuesday night, she offered her a hug and “each time I see her, my stomach turned because she raised a fine young lady”.

Ms Simmons said the two children loved their mother, and she added that “to know that all three have lost their lives is unimaginable and unbearable”.

On the Scaur Hill deaths, Ms Simmons said she knew Mr Garland and Mr Robinson, as well as their mothers, and that the two young men “were doing positive things” in the community.

She added: “They made sure that Bermuda was the Bermuda they wanted to see and for their lives to be cut short is, again, unimaginable.”

Ms Simmons called on residents to “value life; we should value each other”.

She added: “We need to stop blaming society and look into our homes, and figuring what we can do to help our children.”

Opposition senator Dwayne Robinson said the tragedies warranted a united response from the Senate.

He said: “I want to take this time to extend my hand to our colleagues to say that collectively we all have a responsibility to ensure that we don’t take the safety that we have in Bermuda for granted.”

Mr Robinson said the tragedies were “a stark reminder that we in Bermuda have a collective responsibility to ensure that Bermuda remains a relatively safe and harmonious jurisdiction”.

He said the Opposition looked forward to offering help “to show that unity to the population”.

Mr Robinson said the island’s leaders had a responsibility “to show folks that this is a collective, no matter which banner you stand under, that this is a priority and that the loss is felt regardless of our affiliation, regardless of what end of the island you are on, regardless of your political belief”.

Robin Tucker, the Opposition Senate Leader, called on residents to consider the families affected by tragedies before they shared information on social media or via mobile phone messages.

She said: “They are people’s brothers and sons and daughters and cousins and nephews and nieces and, in some cases, they are people’s parents.”

Ms Tucker said the island can be considered “a very close-knit community”.

She added: “We have to be very mindful; we have to think before we share information or before we put our opinions about what we think people are like or what we think the circumstances are.”

She said regardless of what is said about the deceased, they “are still people’s family members”.

The Reverend Emily Gail Dill, the Junior Minister for National Security and Transport, encouraged senators to consider the resources at their disposal “that can make a difference in the life of a young person”.

She called on the Senate to “continue to do the work that needs to be done”.

Dr Dill added: “Let the incidents of these last few days serve as a wake-up call that the work continues, that we must continue to love our young people.”

She added: “We must continue to reach out to the young people who are processing both their grief and their anger as they deal with the reality of having lost individuals that are close to them.”

Leslie Robinson said that when she received the news of the South Terrace deaths, “it was like a knife that cuts through your heart”.

She said that a few days later, when she heard of the Scaur Hill deaths, she grew emotional.

Ms Robinson said: “Just thinking about these things, it can really crush you, crush the very inside of you; it makes you take deep breaths and cry out and scream out.”

She said “it is OK” for residents who may not have been close to those who lost their lives “to cry, to shout, it’s OK to just lament on how you may be feeling”.

She said residents can “take time out to grieve, take time out to cry, there have been so many deaths, not just these ones in recent times”.

Owen Darrell, the Government Senate Leader, said he was saddened by the recent deaths.

He said he attended school with the mothers of the Scaur Hill victims and he noted that he was familiar with their efforts to make a difference in their community.

Mr Darrell expressed condolences to the men’s relatives and relatives of the South Terrace family.

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