Almost ten years to the day since Bermudian aid worker Colin Lee was murdered in Africa his sister has spoken of the family’s enduring sense of loss.

Gaylhia Le May told The Royal Gazette that Mr Lee would have been extremely proud of his nine-year-old daughter, Shekinah, had he still been alive.

Mr Lee, 57, and his Paraguayan wife, Hedwig, who was pregnant with the couple’s first child at the time, were ambushed and robbed by about 20 suspected rebels on November 5, 2005 as they drove through Sudan to help war victims.

Tomorrow will make the 10th anniversary since news of Mr Lee’s death first broke on the Island.

“Colin would be extremely proud of his daughter,” said Ms Le May. “She is a very bubbly character, just like her father was.

“Colin was like a spark plug so with him removed from the family mechanism he is an obvious miss to everyone.

“Ironically, the longest period of time Colin ever stayed away from the family unit without a visit home was when he moved to Canada to work as a musician and stayed for ten years. We talked on the phone during that time, until one day with no notice he just showed up on the front porch.

“Of course that has not been the case over the last decade, but as our late father George Lee used to say “time heals all wounds” so as time has passed the pain has lessened but the scar remains.

“We know that he won’t be showing up unannounced again. Our belief is that death is not final if you are a Christian and there will be a day that we see him again.”

Mr Lee was shot in the heart and throat during the ambush and died several hours later.

His wife, who was four months pregnant at the time of the attack, is said to have survived by lying on the floor of the car before carrying her wounded husband to get medical help.

Ms Le May added: “Although no one has been brought to justice for Colin’s murder, it has been published that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) a guerrilla group, operating in Sudan, Uganda and other surrounding African countries, were behind the ambush.

“The leader of the LRA, African warlord, Joseph Kony, has been a fugitive for several years and is the subject of an international manhunt being responsible for thousands of deaths and kidnappings.

“Colin is a small part of a bigger tragedy and one day there will be justice not only for Colin but for the many other casualties at the hands of the LRA, it is inevitable.

“It is almost impossible to say what Colin would be doing today if he were alive, he had big dreams and one never knew what his next venture would be.

“He leaves a legacy that would speak to anyone who knew him that you don’t have to stay stuck in addiction and depression, nothing is impossible with God. He is greatly missed by friends, family and his church family in Bermuda.”

Mr Lee, a Christian who was nicknamed Reverend, was a former Francis Patton and St George’s Secondary School pupil.

He worked as a mason and carpenter at various construction firms before meeting his wife and heading to Africa to work as a trauma counsellor.

The couple were en route to Uganda for a month of counselling seminars when the rebels struck.

More than 600 friends and relatives packed the First Church of God on North Shore to say a final farewell to a man whom the service heard “gave his life to God”.