It is believed that when Shamilla Singh saw a vehicle careening into her family’s car on Monday she stretched across to cover her six-month-old daughter Karen.
It was the last sacrifice Singh made for her daughter. Her head was stuck between the front passenger seat and the door. According to eyewitnesses, she died immediately.
At their Reece Road, Barrackpore home yesterday, relatives said Singh, 36, a geriatric nurse, left work at Mt Hope to pick up her husband Shameer Boban Hosein, 27, an auto-mechanic, at his workplace at the Siparia Regional Corporation. After picking up Karen at a daycare, Singh went into the backseat of their Nissan Sunny B-14 and left him to drive.
While travelling along G P Road around 4.30 pm, less than two kilometres from their home, a white Nissan Tiida collided head on, causing the family’s vehicle to hurtle into a yard. The wheels flung out and other mechanical parts littered the pavement. The Tiida, which was occupied by two 19-year-old men from the area, spun several times, tossing both men out before stopping.
Residents rushed to pull Karen out of the car. She was still strapped in her baby seat. Princes Town firefighters had to cut her husband out of the car but Singh’s body remained until undertakers removed it three-and-a-half hours later.
Her husband suffered fractured arms, legs and pelvis while Karen had minor injuries to her foot. The victims were taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where they remained warded up to yesterday.
Hosein’s uncle Jeffrey Abdool believed that police should have known about the young men’s driving action as the school is a few metres away from the police station.
“I believe the police should have known what was taking place with this car during the day because they went to the Barrackpore school after it was dismissed and they spun around there. They make several spins, burning their tyres. I don’t know why there was no police there at that time. Usually, there are police in that area.
“It’s really disheartening to know something like this happened and the entire village is aroused over this. We need justice to the fullest. We’re not taking anything short of justice,” Abdool said.
Just last month, Penal couple Kimchan Roopnarine and Patricia Harripersad were killed in a hit and run accident while walking along the Penal Rock Road.
The couple was walking with their sons, Brandon Roopnarine, nine and Darion, five, who escaped death by inches as they head walked ahead. Two people were arrested and questioned but later released.