Grieving mother Mohani Kissoon yesterday sobbed that had the curfew been in place, her 18-year-old daughter Victoria Mirza, who was killed yesterday morning in an accident, would have been alive today. The 49-year-old McBean, Couva, woman, however, admitted that "I would say yes if the curfew was there she would not be dead...But, they say when your time reach, when God ready for you, it doh matter where you are. "If they had the curfew, she would not go out so late," she said. "But then again, who know she mighta died within curfew hours too...That is why I say when your time reach, it reach."
Yesterday, Mirza, of Greg Street, Balmain Village, Couva, was killed instantly when the car in which she was travelling crashed on the Uriah Butler Highway, near the Divali Nagar site, Chaguanas. She was among six people in a black Lancer travelling South along the highway around 4.30 am. Details surrounding the crash were sketchy up to late yesterday as the other occupants of the car-Crystal Butcher, of John Street Montrose; Leanne Lewis, of Southern Main Road, Cunupia; Lisa Gomez, of Longdenville; Kendal Fraser, of Waterloo Road, Carapichaima; and a man, only identified as Miguel-were listed in critical condition at Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope. Police reports state that the driver of the car lost control and crossed the road. The car flipped over several times throwing the passengers onto the roadway. The driver of a PTSC bus, travelling behind the vehicle, quickly drove across the lane preventing motorists from running over the victims lying on the roadway.
When the T&T Guardian visited Kissoon's McBean home yesterday, relatives were busy constructing a tent for the wake. Kissoon urged the youths of T&T to take their time on the nation's roadway and practise safety as one cannot tell when tragedy will strike. "She have 18 years...I not expecting that she would die," the grieving mother said. "Yes, you does see it in the news, but I ain't expecting she to die. "You hear bout other people but you don't expect the same thing to happen to you. "Not in my wildest dream I would have think about that," Kissoon said as she wiped a tear away from her face. She said Mirza, her only daughter, recently started working as a customer service representative at Pennywise Cosmetics, Chaguanas, and had planned to go back to school.