AIDS Activist Murdered

Amid mounting concerns about the high level of violent crime in the country, Wellington Adderley, administrator for the AIDS Foundation of the Bahamas, was found murdered in his Delancy Street home Monday afternoon.

His death pushed the murder count for 2008 to 29.

The body of the 51-year-old was found in his apartment at approximately 2:45pm, police told reporters on the scene.

Police said Mr. Adderley was fully clothed and was found in a pool of blood. They declined to comment on his apparent cause of death, refusing to say whether there were any gunshot wounds or stab wounds on the body.

However, they did say there were signs of trauma.

Inspector Christopher Wright of the Central Detective Unit and Assistant Superintendent of Police Walter Evans, who were on the scene, said information was limited regarding the circumstances surrounding Mr. Adderley’s murder.

Residents reported to police that they had not seen Mr. Adderley since Friday, according to Mr. Wright.

Mr. Evans added, "This was when the police were alerted. After that police attended the scene with a locksmith and then the discovery was made."

He said that he could not confirm whether the perpetrator of the crime had broken into Mr. Adderley’s apartment.

Though Central Detective Unit officers were seen inspecting the crime scene and the areas surrounding the murder, no weapon was found, police said.

Mr. Adderley, who was reportedly single, lived alone, according to Dewitt Hutcheson, associate minister of the nearby Bethel Baptist Church where Mr. Adderley attended.

Rev. Timothy Stuart, senior pastor of the church, confirmed Mr. Adderley’s identity at the scene Monday evening.

Inspector Wright said there was no evidence that the murder was connected to the November 2007 murders of fashion designer Harl Taylor and College of The Bahamas Dean Dr. Thaddeus McDonald.

The bodies of those two prominent Bahamians were also found in their homes, which coincidently are not too far away from Delancy Street.

Mr. Adderley was regarded as a well-respected HIV/AIDS activist in the community and in the Caribbean region.

In addition to serving as the administrator for the AIDS Foundation, he was director of the Bahamas National Network for Positive Living.

Some of Mr. Adderley’s relatives and colleagues were on the scene when authorities removed his body from his home.

They wept at the site.

"He was the greatest person to work with and a jewel," said Nurse Rosemae Bain, an official at the Bahamas AIDS Secretariat.