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5-y-o killed in MoBay freak accident

Published:Thursday | July 2, 2020 | 12:27 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
Shanika McDonald, the five-year old who was killed in a freak accident in Montego Bay.
Shanika McDonald, the five-year old who was killed in a freak accident in Montego Bay.

WESTERN BUREAU:

A five-year-old child was killed and three other persons injured in Montego Bay on Wednesday afternoon when an out-of-control car crashed into a group of National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) employees along Claude Clarke Avenue, where they were carrying out street-cleaning exercises.

The dead child has been identified as Shanika Taneika McDonald, who resides at Uni Street in Flankers. Two sisters, Juliette and Sonia Gillette, and their niece, Ishy Gillette, who are all NSWMA employees, were seriously injured in the incident. They were all admitted to the Cornwall Regional Hospital.

According to reports, shortly after 3 p.m., the driver of a motor car was travelling along Claude Clarke Avenue when he allegedly lost control and ploughed into the NSWMA employees and the child, who was standing on the roadside.

The driver of the ill-fated vehicle also sustained injuries and was hospitalised.

The child’s mother, Tanesha McLaren, who is also a member of the NSWMA team but had left her daughter at the location with her co-workers as she went off to a nearby shop, was overcome with grief when The Gleaner spoke with her.

“Up to now, mi caa believe seh ‘Shanny’ really dead. Mi just lef har wid dem fi a while,” the mother muttered.