Grimacing at the surgical cut on his chest and amputated right arm, Moruga father Jamie Loubon knows that life will never be the same.
Yet his only concern yesterday was for his three children, Emmanuel, four, Candy, two and Jamieson, eight months, who remain warded in a separate wing of the San Fernando General Hospital.
His mother, Dianne, could not hold back her grief as she claimed the soldier driving the T&T Regiment-registered Toyota Land Cruiser was reckless when he crashed into Jamie’s Nissan Sunny B-14 on Monday night.
Dianne said Jamie, 27, a mason, lost his livelihood as a result of the accident and also could not engaged in his passion for cricket, noting he was a talented spin bowler for the village’s team.
She said Jamie had also single-handedly cast the foundation for his family home along the Penal Rock Road.
It is for this reason the mother demanded that the Ministry of National Security adequately compensate her son for not only for his injuries but future loss of earnings.
“I think the Government should compensate this family. All his life he did not ask for anything from the Government, he was doing his own work and raising his family. Up to now, no solider, no police came to find out about anything in the hospital,” an upset Dianne told the T&T Guardian at her son’s hospital bed.
With bills for school fees, groceries and general upkeep, she said it would be a tough task for his wife Cassie to cover those costs and tend to his needs.
The soldiers reported that while driving along the Moruga Road around 8.20 pm on Monday, a white vehicle veered into their path, causing the driver to swerve to the right to avoid a collision.
However, they crashed into Jamie’s car, before their SUV flipped several times before crashing into the wall of a resident’s home.
Yesterday, Dianne said Cassie, who was seated in the back with the children, said there was no white car as claimed by the soldiers.
She said the impact was so great the soldiers’ vehicle cracked the wall it crashed into.
She said an investigation should be done to determine the real cause of the crash which has caused her family great distress.