Young men were told to turn their backs on violence and to choose the right path instead, as hundreds turned out for the funeral of murder victim Shaundae Winston Jones yesterday.

Pastor Kenneth Manders, in his eulogy, told mourners that he went to Westgate Prison regularly and spoke to men who once thought they were hard and cool.

He said once they were in jail, and separated from their boys, they felt alone and insecure. They were no longer the hard men they once thought they were, and instead, asked the Minister to pray for them.

He said those thinking of revenge over 20-year-old Shaundae's death last week should think again, and should leave revenge for the Lord.

Bermuda College student Shaundae was gunned down in the early hours of Sunday last week after leaving Club Malabar in Dockyard with his friends.

The gunman is believed to have approached the car where Shaundae and his friends were sitting, opened the door and deliberately shot him before running off.

Shaundae, of Smith's Avenue, Warwick, died soon after of a bullet wound to the chest.

Yesterday, his old classmates from Bermuda Institute and his friends paid tribute to the diligent boy, who always worked hard and was dedicated to his studies, but who was known as the joker and the one who made everyone smile.

The school's former principal Sheila Holder remembered a student who was kind and sweet natured, and who always had a calming affect on others.

The celebration of Shaundae's life was held at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Southampton.

Hundreds of friends and family, wearing badges and tributes to the young man, filled the church, with scores more downstairs in the basement, where the service was being projected onto a large screen.

The Bermuda Institute Reunion Choir sang, and, as his mother Marsha Jones had hoped, although tears were shed, the send off was uplifting, rather than upsetting.

Reading the obituary, Shaundae's former tutor Glenn Bascome told how he had started his education at St. Anne's Nursery School, before setting out on his long journey at the Bermuda Institute.

He remained there until he graduated in 2001, and was nominated by his graduating year to be parliamentarian, leading the the graduating class into the ceremony, carrying the Bible.

He said: "Shaundae's classmates remember him as being kind and a real joker. You could be having the worse day in class and Shaundae would say something to make you laugh. He stuck to what he believed in.

"He was a leader without a doubt. He had a mind of his own. Many people flocked to him. Everybody liked him. One of his teachers described him as a definite negotiator. He had a very creative mind."

In a letter written to Shaundae by his mother, entitled Why?, she asked why he had been taken from her so young.

She wrote: "Shaundae, why did they take you from me? Didn't they know how much I loved you? Didn't they know how much a mother needs her one and only child? Didn't they know all the training and nurturing I have done over the last 20 years was for a purpose? No one could prepare me for this."

She told how she lay in bed at night waiting to hear his key go in the door, but it never did anymore.

And she remembered the times her son would sit on her bed and talk about his dreams for the future.

She added: "Shaundae, I did the best that I could. We had a good 20 years, three months and 11 days together. I am so glad that the Lord loaned you to me, I don't know why He allowed you to leave me so soon, but I guess it was to save you.

"During the last few minutes of your life, I hope you gave your heart to the Lord so that we can see each other again."

And in a tribute written by one of his female friends who was there the night Shaundae was shot, she told how she had danced with the young man in the club before everyone made their way outside to go home.

She said she remembered hearing a shot, and people screaming, before everyone scattered and disappeared. And she said she wondered if things would have been different if she had only gone over to the car to talk to Shaundae after they had left the club.

In messages for members of the congregation, Shaundae's mother urged parents never to give up on their children and to love them and nurture them, through good times and bad.

And she asked the Island's young people to turn their backs on violence.

She said: "Don't cheat yourself or your loved ones of the opportunities that life has to offer you, as a result of violence.

"I myself feel cheated - my son was all that I had. Don't let Shaundae's death be in vain."

Shaundae leaves behind his mother Marsha, father Winston Parker, brother Lloyd Parker and sisters Tracy and Tasha Bean, and countless relatives.