Family torn by grief as crash kills kids

When Amanda Wright, her four children, along with three other kids and two adults, set out on a trip to Skateland in Old Harbour Saturday afternoon, the excitement and joy felt by the youngsters were palpable.

But the family was jolted by a horrific traffic tragedy on the Old Harbour main road that killed two children and left at least four others hospitalised up to Sunday afternoon.

Donneth Stewart, grandmother of four of the children, including one of the deceased, said the children were euphoric as they anticipated the summer excursion.

“I saw them yesterday morning (Saturday) and they run and hug me up and say, ‘Grandma, Grandma, we are going to Skateland,’” she said.

Stewart said she has a wonderful relationship with her grandchildren, who sit outside the front yard and wait until she comes home from work in the evenings.

She was philosophical Sunday, thanking God for sparing the lives of some.

“I could have lost all of my four grandchildren and mi son stepdaughter.

“I said yesterday over the hospital I will never question Jesus because God knows everything best,” the grandmother said.

Stewart received overwhelming support from neighbours who showed up in their numbers at the hospital mourning the loss of the two children.

Tamizar Bryce, six, the youngest child for Wright, who was also the life of her household and beloved beyond measure in the De La Vega City community, did not survive the accident. Neither did a nine-year-old named Abbygail.

Little Tamizar attended De La Vega Basic School, while Abbygail was a student at Bridgeport Primary School.

When Wright returned home Sunday afternoon, having spent the night with another family member, she spoke in hushed tones as the crying and grief had taken a toll on her voice.

She had a section of her hands down to her fingers bandaged, telltale signs of the crash trauma.

Wright’s first child, Kemanda Mullings, 13, is still being treated in hospital. So, too, is her seven-year-old son, Collin Bryce, who sustained a broken leg and arm. Wright’s daughter Teshoya Mullings, 10, has been released from hospital.

Mourning echoed across the Spanish Town community as women and men alike wept at the passing of the six-year-old they called ‘Naughty’. Her nickname belied the well-mannered child that she was, based on a plethora of testimonials from residents whose hearts were broken at the news of her death.

At the family home, Tamizar’s grandmother recounted how her youngest grandchild would wake her up in the morning, saying, “Hey, Grandma! Wake up! It’s time for you to go to work.”

“She was a very jovial little child. She was not a rude child. All the big man dem, dem cry fi Naughty,” she told The Gleaner.

The police reported that 11 people were involved in the two-vehicle crash.

Several of the crash victims sustained severe brain injuries and fractures, Dr St Clair Clarke, acting senior medical officer (SMO) at Spanish Town Hospital, confirmed to The Gleaner on Sunday.

“The ones at Spanish Town Hospital are stable and non-critical,” Clarke said.

The SMO said that two children were transferred to Bustamante Hospital for Children and an adult to the Kingston Public Hospital.

Clarke said that he was alerted to the mass casualty around 6:30 p.m. Saturday by Accident and Emergency Unit staff.

The crash happened about 5:15 p.m. in the vicinity of McCooks Pen, St Catherine.

A 2012 Toyota Wish, with nine people aboard, and a 2012 Nissan AD Wagon, with two persons, were travelling in opposite directions when the driver of the Wish reportedly sought to overtake and the crash occurred, said Superintendent Duane Wellington, acting commander of the St Catherine North Police Division.

The road was wet, the cop said.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com