Mother shattered after daughter’s death in horrific Trelawny crash

WESTERN BUREAU:

“She was the life of the party” said Ann Marie White as she described her daughter, entertainment coordinator Judy Levy, one of four persons who perished in a horrific motor vehicle crash along the Braco main road in Trelawny this past Sunday morning.

Levy, a 39 year-old mother of two, died when the Probox taxi in which she was travelling collided with a trailer. She was on her way to work at the Iberostar Hotel in Montego Bay, St James at the time of the crash. The other persons killed in the crash were fellow hotel workers 32-year-old Sabrina Downie and 19-year-old Anthony Walters, and the driver of the taxi, 59-year-old Marlon Lyons.

“Oh boy, all now I don’t come to grips, but it’s really affecting me,” said White, as she spoke with The Gleaner three days after her daughter’s tragic death. “I can’t sleep at nights. From Sunday, my eyes don’t close at nights.”

White, who is still trying to understand why life has dealt her what she described as a “devastating blow and has devastated her family”, said she got a frightening call detailing her daughter’s death while she was in church worshipping on Sunday. Levy resided in Brown’s Town, St Ann.

“They’re not taking it good. They are not taking it good at all,” said White, in describing the impact of Levy’s death on her grandmother and her two children, ages 16 and 10, who are reportedly traumatised by their mother’s sudden passing.

“Her grandma that [raised] her is taking it really hard. We have to be watching her and she’s diabetic.”

A life well lived

However, amid her grief, White also reminisced on a life well lived by her daughter, who she said loved her family and friends unconditionally and was the family’s role model who charted a path for her two siblings.

“Judy is my daughter and we have a close relationship. A day don’t pass where she doesn’t call me or she text. If she’s having any troubles, she would call and say she’s going through this or that. She’s my first-born child and her sister and brother looked up to her,” said the grieving mother.

Levy reportedly shared a special bond with her younger brother, who White described as “the light of her life”.

“Anything he wants, she would try her utmost best to give it to him. She was the breadwinner and, even when my son met in an accident, she stopped from work to be with us all,” said White, who further noted that, “she would have gone to the end of the world for her kids”.

“She tried to make everybody feel comfortable. She didn’t want to see anybody in need. She would prefer to do without and let them have it. That’s the type of person she was,” added White.

As she slowly comes to terms with her daughter’s death, White is now gearing up to help fill the void created in the lives of her two grieving grandchildren.

“It’s going to be a long process but we have to try to hold the focus and keep the family bonded,” she said.

In the meantime, close friends and other family members have been utilising the Facebook platform to offer their condolences and share their moments of grief as they, too, grieve the passing of Levy, who was affectionately called Peaches.

“RIP Queen. RIP to all the other victims and condolences to the friends and families. We in a very weird time,” posted Noel Cunningham.

“RIP Judy Peach Levy my heart aches watching that video just now and seeing you in that taxi YOOOWWW!!! Taxi bwoi unnuh need to slow down on the road. This hurt bad, this hurt real bad Peach,” wrote former colleague O’Shane Ellis.

“Four precious lives wasted, just like that, which didn’t have to happen, but all because of carelessness. Leaving families to mourn and grieve their loved ones. Ah boy. My sincere condolences to the families. And may the Almighty give them peace, and strength to get through this,” commented Dorrett Brown.

In addition to the four persons killed in the crash, three other passengers were taken to hospital for medical treatment. Speeding is believed to have been a factor in the accident, which saw the Probox taxi running into the back of the moving trailer.

rochelle.clayton@gleanerjm.com