RAD­I­CA SOOKRAJ

Teenag­er Crys­tal Ja­hoorie took her moth­er Moo­nia Ar­joon shop­ping for her birth­day on Sat­ur­day on­ly to see her moth­er die in a car crash on their way home. Crys­tal's fa­ther Rus­sell Ja­hoorie, 48, was in­jured in the ac­ci­dent and is ward­ed in a se­ri­ous con­di­tion at the San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal.

Po­lice said the ac­ci­dent oc­curred at around 4:45 pm while Ja­hoorie was dri­ving west along the Guaracara Tabaquite Road. Up­on reach­ing Ben Lomond, the car col­lid­ed with an­oth­er ve­hi­cle. Ar­joon, who was sit­ting in the front left pas­sen­ger seat, died at the scene.

Crys­tal and her boyfriend, Ri­az Ho­sein, were in an­oth­er ve­hi­cle when the ac­ci­dent oc­curred. She said she heard the crash and was hor­ri­fied to see her par­ent's ve­hi­cle. "I ran out bawl­ing and when I watched mum, she was al­ready dead. My fa­ther was moan­ing," she said. Ar­joon would have cel­e­brat­ed her 57th birth­day on Tues­day.

Moth­er dies in car ac­ci­dent

"I want­ed to cel­e­brate ear­ly so I took her out to buy a phone. I was al­so plan­ning to get her a pair of ear­rings," Crys­tal said. Ar­joon's sis­ter-in-law Jan­ice Ja­groop said she was a lov­ing moth­er who planned to re­build their home next year. She said Ja­hoorie had re­gained con­scious­ness and re­mem­bered the ac­ci­dent. An au­top­sy will be con­duct­ed to­day at the Foren­sic Sci­ence Cen­tre.

Act­ing Cpl Nand­lal of the Gas­par­il­lo Po­lice Sta­tion is con­tin­u­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tions.