FOR SHERYL HAREWOOD of 5th Avenue, Durants Village, St James, Christmas 2012 will be unforgettable for its shock and sadness.
Yesterday, Boxing Day, she was mourning the deaths of a daughter, a granddaughter and a 15-month-old grandson.
Harewood told the DAILY?NATION she was in a daze, having lost her youngest daughter Sherese Alleyne, 20; granddaughter Nikira Harewood, 17; and beloved grandson Keon (Sherese’s son) on Sunday when the car in which they were travelling was involved in a collision with a minibus on Gibbes Road, St Peter.
It was the second time in 15 years that tragedy distressed her. In 1997 her son Marlo – father of Nikira – died in a traffic accident.
Harewood said she could barely remember what she was doing; it was as if she was in auto pilot mode, keeping busy so as not to face the reality that only one of her three children was now alive.
“Marlo died in an accident in 1997, so my grandson was very special to me. All my children were very special; my girls were loving but my grandson was extra special. I [raised] him; it really hurts,” she said.
Harewood said she was alerted about the accident by a frantic Dian, her eldest daughter who survived the crash.
She was thrown from the car and was able to contact her mother by cellphone. Harewood said she collapsed on the way to the scene and had to be taken to a doctor instead. Her only consolation is that Dian, 25, is at home where she can keep an eye on her.
Also surviving the crash was Dian’s boyfriend Anderson “Pie” Gibbons, 33, driver of the car. He is still recovering at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.Speaking from the family home yesterday, Dian said it was hard to put her feelings into words.
“I thank God I’m still alive, but I miss my sister; my niece and my nephew; they will always be in my heart,” she said, adding she was also worried about “Pie”.“I’m praying every day he comes through.
I’m crying every day and I have not slept properly since the accident,” she admitted.
Harewood said she would not have been able to make it without her family, co-workers of the Tamarind Cove Hotel, and friends in the community who have been there to comfort her.Sherese was an attendant at Rubis petrol station in Holetown, St James, and Nikira, was a former St James Secondary School student.
“They left to go shopping that day,” Harewood said. Nikira’s plan was to bake a cake for Christmas. Everybody was looking forward to that. It was such a joy to see my two grandchildren playing together. I’m so sad.”