Bundles of fresh produce on top of mangled car parts, small rubber slippers flung across the street and bits of shopping bags shredded by impact created the snapshot of a family's Sunday morning market trip that ended in tragedy. Hadeey Paul and her two daughters–Shakira and Ruthie–died instantly yesterday on their way back from the Central Market. The family of three was struck by a speeding car driven by an off-duty policeman on the Beetham Highway.
Shakira, 7, attended Eastern Girls' Government Primary Schools while Ruthie, 8, attended Nelson Street Girls'RC School.At Pioneer Drive in Sea Lots, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Hadeey's mother, Carol Gonzales, said she did not wish to say much but pleaded with reporters and photographers not to display images of the dead bodies of the front page of today's paper.Tears streaming down her face, Gonzales said she feared for her own mother's health if she were to see such images.Hadeey's elder brother, Junior Gonzales said his grandmother had an ailing heart and family members could not bear to tell her the news.
Gonzales said he was overwhelmed with emotion when he heard the tragic news.He said: "When I see that, water just run out my eyes."He said Hadeey and her two daughters were supposed to attend a cousin's wedding yesterday."They were heading home from the market," he said."She had done cross the road already, market bags and everything. They were on the pavement already when they got bounced."
A prominent member of the Sea Lots community who seemed to have the command and support of residents and only wanted to be referred to by his alias "Big Man" said for almost two and a half years, residents of Sea Lots had been requesting that a walkover be built at the Beetham Highway. He said residents have been concerned for many years about the dangers of crossing the busy highway.
He said when residents heard about the accident, they came out in large numbers to grieve for Paul who was a well-known figure in the community."What people established here was sympathy," he said."They came out to vent their emotions towards it because she is very well known in the community. Everybody knows Hadeey."
He described her as a hardworking woman who cared very much for her daughters. He said visiting the market on Sunday mornings was a ritual for members of the community and added that children often accompanied their parents on these trips.Community members, he said, had no intention of engaging in acts of violence or exercising force immediately after the accident occurred. He said the police saw the gathering of people as a riot and began firing rubber bullets at residents and releasing tear gas.
He said: "The general reaction of the people after the accident was sympathy. The police have turned it into aggression. Nobody came out here for violence. People came out here to see a member of the community, a fellow sister and when they saw the level of accident, we felt pain."MP for Laventille West Nileung Hypolite was also at the scene after receiving numerous calls from both residents and members of the media. Hypolite said when he arrived, residents told him what had taken place.
Car accident at Sea Lots
He said residents told him a senior superintendent of police ordered that police shoot at residents who gathered to see what had transpired. Hypolite said he found it "very strange" that police officers would shoot at civilians rather than shoot into the air.
Eyewitnesses claim:A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said he witnessed the accident as well as what had transpired afterwards involving the police. He said when police officers arrived shortly after the accident, they attended to the driver before attempting to look after the victims who were on the ground. He said when the driver climbed out of the car window, a pair on handcuffs fell to the ground. The resident also said that after climbing out of the badly damaged vehicle, the injured driver was instructed by a police officer to "play dead."
Residents say police officers then placed the injured man into another vehicle and took him away. They also claim they saw police officers retrieve a bottle of alcohol from the car. Many claimed they had pictures and video clips to prove this finding.Infuriated members of the community said in the coming days it would be wise for drivers to use the Eastern Main Road rather than the Beetham Highway because "there will be no rest here until there is justice."