Sonia Ward (left), who identified her mother Marjorie Boyce's body, being supported by her husband and police victim support co-ordinator Joan Williams.

by CAROL-ANN TUDOR

WHEN SONIA WARD got the call at her Sandy Lane workplace yesterday morning that her mum had been injured in an accident, she thought she was going to the scene to take her to hospital.

But she wasn't.

Ward's worst fears were realised when she arrived at the accident scene in The Garden, St James – her task to identify the body of her mother,
61-year-old Marjorie Boyce, on the ground.

With the tarpaulin raised in the air, Ward started bawling and had to be hustled away from the scene by her husband.

"I spoke to my mum just yesterday. I hadn't heard her yet for the morning; but this is not what I was expecting", she told the WEEKEND NATION nearly an hour later.

Boyce, of No. 18H, Crest View Terrace, Eden Lodge, St Michael, was on her way to work at Sundown, in Mullins, St Peter, where she was a housekeeper.

Ward said she had heard the news on the radio, but thought maybe her mother was at work already.

It was only when her mother's husband Colin called to say he had been trying to reach her for a while that she became scared.

"I told him, 'OK, I'll try to reach her for you," she said.

But as repeated calls to Boyce's cellphone went unanswered, Ward said she began to tremble.

Two minutes later, Ward's phone rang. Police were on the other line asking her to come to the scene.

"I never thought it would be this. I was surprised, devastated, scared . . . . I can't believe that is my mother out there," a dazed Ward lamented.

Ward, one of two sisters – the other being Annette Johnson – said the family were extremely close.

"We talk, we laugh, we share everything together," she said before breaking into tears once again.

The accident involved two minibuses, B144 and B37, heading to Speightstown and a backhoe loader on its way to Bridgetown.

Thirty people received injuries, including cuts to hands and faces, while some complained of chest pains.