The last of the four young people who died in last Sunday's car crash at Trincity, Ryan Steve Ramtahal, was laid to rest yesterday at the Lapeyrouse Cemetery. Ramtahal, 25, lived at Industry Lane, Belmont. At the funeral service at the Church of the Assumption in Maraval, his godfather, Robert David King, delivering the eulogy, said the way the media reported the accident caused him deep sadness.
He said when the accident occurred, the media focused largely on Justice Wendell Kangaloo, who was seriously injured when the car in which Ramtahal and his friends were travelling crossed the median of the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and crashed into his Prado.
Ramtahal and his friends, who were reportedly returning from a nightclub, were only referred to as "limers and partygoers," said King, a member of a church in Connecticut in the United States. "They did not see that four beautiful, precious lives were lost. That made me very sad."
While King was at the pulpit delivering the eulogy, a man sitting in a pew walked up the aisle and whispered something to him. King later said the man reminded him that he was Steve Ramtahal, the father of the deceased. "I mentioned that four times when I was naming Ryan's relatives," King told the Guardian.
Ramtahal left the church in the middle of the service and stood outside smoking a cigarette. He said he and Ryan's mother separated many years ago. He said Ryan was his only son and the two of them sat down and talked only the Saturday before he died. Ramtahal said he is from Talparo, runs a business in Aranguez and had asked Ryan to come and run it. He said Ryan had agreed.
A cousin of the deceased, Kevin Kissoon from Belmont, said Ryan had an airconditioning job and went to work and came back home and attended church on a Sunday. "Ryan lived a good life. He used to pray a lot too. He never showed no gangster or bad-boy attitude. "Somewhere along the line, he might have picked up a certain kind of company from liming out."
A young woman cried loudly when the casket was brought out of the church to be put into the hearse. "I love you!" she sobbed. Several young people attended the service and quietly watched the goings on. The other three other victims of the accident, Megan Richards, 16, from Diego Martin, Jovaughn Spencer, 22, of Belmont and Jeremy Soyer, 24, of Bournes Road, St James were laid to rest earlier in the week.
