| “Where’s my mommy?” – Akila’s daughterRelatives struggle to come to grips with death of loved onesFighting to hold back tears in dealing with the death of her youngest daughter, Sandra Austin says that she still cannot believe that ‘her baby,’ Akila Jacobs, is dead.During a visit to the family’s residence at Lot 1580 Aubrey Barker Road, South Ruimveldt Park yesterday, family members gathered to comfort each other as they struggled to come to grips with the young woman’s sudden and untimely death.The 23-year-old mother of two-year-old Akeriah Hinds lost her life on Saturday evening when the mini bus she was travelling in collided with the back of a truck at Ameila’s Ward,Cheap Jerseys From China, Linden.Austin, who is a police officer attached to the Brickdam Police Station, told Kaieteur News that she was on the West Coast of Berbice when she received a telephone call from her daughter’s friend informing her that Akila was involved in an accident and that she was in a critical condition. Austin said that she immediately started to travel to Georgetown, only to learn that Akila was dead.The grieving mother noted that last Friday was the last time she saw and spoke with Akila.“The sad thing about it is that I was at work. I had dialled Akila’s number and told her that I wanted to speak to her. I saw her on Friday and we had a good talk. That was the last time I saw my baby,” the distressed mother said.The grieving Tappin family. From left are Terrence TappinAccording to Austin, Akila told her that she had to go to Linden on Saturday for a GT&T assignment, but she never believed that it would have resulted in her death.Akila’s two-year-old daughter does not know that her mother is dead, since the relatives opted not to tell her, so the child keeps calling out for her mother.She keeps saying: “I want my mommy,” the relatives related.During the course of the visit at the family’s home yesterday, Kaieteur News observed that the little girl was quiet most of the time, as she kept clinging on to her aunt, Malika.Akila is described by most of her media colleagues as a very pleasant person,Robin Ventura White Sox Jersey, who always had a smile on her face.Her first job in the media fraternity was at Kaieteur News, almost five years ago; after which she moved to News Two, then the Evening News, and then the NCN 6’O Clock News.A post mortem examination is expected to be performed on Akila’s body today, after which family members will decide on a funeral date.Akila Jacobs leaves to mourn her parents,Jerseys NFL Cheap, her only sister, Malika,Mike Scott Astros Jersey, and her two-year-old daughter.Meanwhile, relatives of 60-year-old Terrence Tappin,Jerseys From China, of 42 East La Penitence, Georgetown, who was the driver of the bus and who also died, are adamant that he is not the cause of Saturday night’s accident which claimed the life of Akila Jacobs.According to the man’s wife, Desiree Sobers, she last heard from him at about 18:00 hrs on Saturday evening while he was on his way to Georgetown.She further told this newspaper that her husband was reluctant to go on the trip. “It was almost as if he had a premonition. He usually doesn’t have a problem with going out of town, but when the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) called him on Friday night and told him about the trip, surprisingly he was unenthusiastic.”Tappin’s wife said that the company was persistent, and her husband finally agreed to go on the ill-fated trip, which has claimed his life.“I told him if he didn’t feel like going he should stay and follow his mind, not knowing that would have been his last trip.”Sobers said that despite reports that her husband was “driving fast,” she is positive that he was not.The woman stressed that if he was speeding, persons in the bus would have told him to slow down.Similar sentiments were expressed by the man’s sister, Penelope Sutton, and another cousin who works at the telephone company.Both noted that he was never a fast driver. They said that the truck reportedly had one light at the back and he probably had mistaken it for a motorcycle.His sister posited that her brother was never a reckless driver, and she believes that when he realised that the vehicle ahead of him wasn’t a motorcycle, he lost control of the bus.His wife said that she now feels a “little better,Chris Paul Wake Forest Jersey,” since she saw her husband’s body at Lyken’s Funeral Home yesterday.She said her husband received massive head injuries, evidenced by cuts to his head, and his right foot was crushed. She said from the injuries he sustained, there was no way that her husband could have survived the accident.Relatives of the deceased are calling for the truck driver to be charged. “Most naturally, he should be charged,” Sobers noted, adding that it was due to the missing lights on the truck that the accident occurred.The man leaves to mourn his wife and seven children, three of whom reside in the USA, as well as six grandchildren.Meanwhile, all of the survivors of the accident are still hospitalized at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), recovering from a number of injuries they sustained.NCN camera operator June Ann Amsterdam was transferred from the Mackenzie Hospital to the GPHC yesterday.She sustained injuries to her ribs, along with lacerations to her right arm and a gash over her right eye.She told Kaieteur News that she cannot walk and is feeling pain all over her body.Amsterdam said that she was sitting in the third seat of the minibus, and does not know how the accident occurred.Following the accident, she said, she came out of the bus and was totally unaware that she was injured, until she saw the huge gash on her right arm, which was bleeding profusely.NCN cameraman Nizam Mohammed also remains in a stable condition at the GPHC, nursing wounds to his head and a broken arm, along with employee of GT&T Kenneth Whyte, who is suffering from head injuries and a broken right leg.Guyana Times reporter Ravina Gildarie is also hospitalized in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of the hospital. |
