Two young men lose lives on the road

A good Samaritan gesture ended in tragedy for teenaged Princes Town mechanic Stephan Shafraz Mohammed when he was killed in a car crash while returning home from helping fix a friend’s car on Thursday. Mohammed, 19, of Lothians Road, was one of two young men killed in separate accidents during the period leading up to Independence Day celebrations yesterday. Yesterday Nicolas Rampersad, 22, of Fourth Street, Harmony Hall, was killed instantly when he lost control of his car and crashed into a lightpole. His cousin, Bradley, is currently warded at the San Fernando General Hospital in stable condition. He was injured in the accident which occurred a short distance from Rampersad’s home. In the first accident, police reports state that around 2.40 pm on Thursday, Mohammed was seated in the front seat of a car driven by Chicka Barka of Lothians Road and accompanied by Princes Town resident Sastri Rampersad, 28, who was seated in the back seat of the car. While driving along Daisley Road, Barka’s vehicle crashed into a truck. The vehicle ended up under the truck. Mohammed was killed on the spot.

 

Mohammed’s aunt, Lisa Mohammed, 30, fought back tears yesterday when the T&T Guardian visited the teenager’s Princes Town home. She said the teen’s father was too distraught to talk since they were very close. She said they worked together in their garage at Manahambre, Princes Town. Mohammed’s mother lives in New York and was expected to return to Trinidad today following news of her son’s death. Lisa said on Thursday afternoon one of Stephan’s friends called him to help fix a car and he went with him. She said it was a good deed. “He was a loving, caring person. He had lots of ambition. He wanted to do mechanic, that was his ambition, fixing something. That is what he loved to do,” she said wiping away tears.She had a message for all young people, “be very careful on the road. You do not know what could happened when you leave home.” In the second accident, police reports state Rampersad was driving along Harmony Hall Road, Reform, around 3.45 am when he lost control of his car and collided with another car. His car then crashed into a lightpole and flipped over several times. He was killed instantly.

 

Yesterday, relatives gathered at Rampersad’s home trying to come to terms with the 22-year-old’s death. Rampersad’s parents were too distraught to speaking with the T&T Guardian. His uncle Berry, 58, said Rampersad was liming with his cousins next to his Gasparillo home when they went to Gapsarillo to get doubles. He said, “They were at home liming by my sister. Everything was going pretty well. It is not to say that they were on a drinking spree or anything like that. It was just like a 50th-anniversary type thing and they were liming.” Details about the accident were sketchy but Berry said there was a vehicle parked at the side of the road with no lights and his nephew tried to pull away from that and crashed. He assured his nephew was not drinking. “They just felt like eating something and went for doubles. He is a nice person, decent. I loved him a lot. His parents are not coping well at all,” he said.  Cpl Singh is continuing investigations into Rampersad’s accident.