BARBADOS Red Cross volunteer Aldo Babb, who assisted in removing the bodies of victims of the Campus Trendz fire, was found hanging last Monday in the one-room plywood building where he slept, a stone’s throw away from his girlfriend’s family home at Chalky Mount, in St Andrew.
Babb, 39, was a full-time employee in the laundry of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Reports indicated that investigations were under way into Babb’s involvement with the removal of the body of Shanna Griffith, 18, from the crime scene where she and five others perished last Friday night in Tudor Street, The City.
Authorities reportedly want to find out who gave instructions to remove the body, which was later left uncovered on a stretcher in the hallway at the Accident & Emergency (A&E) Department.
There have also been questions about Babb, who was on duty at the National Stadium with the Red Cross, being asked to assist with the body’s removal.
Yesterday, a relative who declined to give her name, said Babb’s girlfriend Sandy Alleyne discovered his body hanging from a rafter soon after returning home from the first day on a new job in the canteen of the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus.
That relative told the Midweek Nation: “Apparently, all the time he was saying he was not feeling well. He was having chest problems. He stayed home from work yesterday, but they thought he was inside just resting.
When [Sandy] went down there to check on him, she saw him and she ran out. We just heard her screaming and calling for somebody to come.”
Ermine Vaughn, mother of Babb’s girlfriend, was still in a state of disbelief when the Midweek Nation team visited her home yesterday.
Dampened mood
The tragic incident dampened what promised to be a happy school term start for Babb’s 13-year-old son; for his daughter Deandre Greenidge, who was looking forward to her first day of study in hospitality services; and for stepson Shammar Alleyne, who was due to begin an apprenticeship programme yesterday.
Babb was also the father of two teenaged daughters.
Standing in the room where the suicide was allegedly committed, a visibly distraught Shammar said: “I feel real terrible knowing that he and my mother had big dreams.
“They were planning to get married before the year done . . . knowing that my little brother is still young; and right now he is not talking to anybody.
“He was a good man and I sorry he [Babb] did this to us at this time. It got my mother hurt.”
Neither Babb’s mother nor his girlfriend was available for comment. (TS/GC)
