Tributes pour in after restaurateur’s shock death

[caption id="attachment_104213" align="alignright" width="300"] Joel Malkinson[/caption]

SHOCKED family and friends of prominent and popular Wicker Woods and Mangiamo restaurant owner Joel Malkinson rushed to the Walmer business premises after he was found dead by a staff member early yesterday.

Tributes have been pouring in for the affable 42-year-old culinary expert and father of two who was found with a bullet wound to the head in his business premises in 6th Avenue.

A gun registered in his name was found near to his body. No foul play is suspected. Malkinson’s body was found in a chair in the bar of the Mangiamo pizzeria area at about 8.15am by an employee who had just arrived.

According to police, the worker then ran out of the building, screaming for assistance.

An inquest investigation is under way.

By 9am, family and friends were arriving at the restaurant while Malkinson’s distraught wife, Dee-Anne – who co-owns lifestyle shop Gently Worn on the same premises – sat on a chair on the patio being comforted by relatives and friends.

Several visibly shocked employees also sat outside, crying, while giving statements to police.

Police spokesman Warrant Officer Alwin Labans said attempts at resuscitation were made by a person who arrived on the scene, but Malkinson was declared dead after the arrival of an ambulance.

One employee said they had become concerned when Malkinson failed to collect them for work as usual.

“We work for him and he usually fetches us on the way to work,” the employee, who did not want to be named, said.

“We became suspicious when he did not arrive and tried to call him, but there was no answer. When we arrived, we saw all the police and ambulances here. “We are shocked.” Neighbour Jacques van Wyk, 49, who is busy with alterations to his house, said: “I heard no gunshot or anything. It was just like a normal day.

“I often saw him [Malkinson] arrive at about 8am but when I started seeing ambulances and police pull into the restaurant, I went to find out what had happened,” he said.

“I am so shocked. He was such a nice, down-to-earth person.”

While friends were reluctant to speak at the scene, tributes poured in on social media.

Val Hanson posted on Facebook: “Darling Joel ... words cannot convey the terrible shock this is going to have on PE.

-Gareth Wilson