Last Saturday, Joann Watts had an uncomfortable feeling, followed by a bad dream about her brother DeCoursey Gulstone, also known as “Bridgey”.
Less than 24-hours later, she received news that her brother was dead.
Gulstone, 67, a pedestrian, was involved in a collision with a motorcycle owned and ridden by Ridge Hollingsworth, 26, of Parish Land, Christ Church, around 3:10 p.m. on Sunday.
The incident occurred near the junction of Rihanna Drive, Westbury Road, St Michael, a stone’s throw away from Gulstone’s home, directly opposite the Westbury Cemetery wall.
Gulstone was transported to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital but succumbed to his injuries about 9:40 p.m. the same day. He was the 19th person to die on the roads for the year.
Hollingsworth complained of pain to the right knee and right elbow.
“I was home Saturday night uncomfortable. I was jittery and wanted to leave home and I hardly leave home. I had a sense that something was wrong,” Gulstone’s sister told the DAILY NATION yesterday.
“That night I dreamt I was inside and they were fixing my house . . . . I had my little granddaughter in my bed and she told me she wanted to go pass water and I told her she couldn’t go pass water now because ‘Bridgey’ out there and we have to hide. Then I heard Denis the carpenter telling the other one, ‘Look, she brother head wash in blood’,” Watts recounted.
Watts, who lives in Thomas Gap, Westbury, said she was deeply hurt by news of the death, especially since no one in the area came over to inform her of what happened.
Mental problems
The 69-year-old said her brother suffered with mental problems and got caught up with alcohol and drugs, which contributed to his state of mind and living conditions.
“From small he had an operation on his head but he went through school until he was 16. His head wasn’t too good but he didn’t trouble anyone. The only one he would interfere with from time to time was me when he drank his liquor. Then he stopped drinking the rum and he was okay, but then he was on drugs.
“The main person to look after him was my mother and she died in 1994 and left him in the house. My daughter then started to do stuff for him, but he turned on us; sometimes I couldn’t even go out there by the house,” she explained.
However, she described him as “a very helpful person”.
Watts, with tears settling in her eyes, said she wished things were different.
“I saw him last month. We really wish we could have been closer as a family. I’m sorry things are like this and he had to go like that. It’s hurtful.”
Gulstone’s neighbour for more than 30 years, Anderson Sealy, said it was sad to see him die like that.
“He was just going across the road for some water [when the incident occurred]. His head wasn’t altogether there but he wasn’t anyone who would trouble people. He would do anything for people; he was a really cool person,” he said. (DB)
