Tragedy struck a Wallerfield family on Wednesday after a toddler was crushed to death by a loaded dump truck moments after the driver stopped to ask for directions.
Two-year-old Terracina Ariel Meena Moonilal had shaken free a wooden two-foot barrier placed across the front door and followed her 12-year-old cousin who was speaking to the driver.
Unaware the child was in danger, the driver drove off crushing the head of the little girl.
Speaking with Guardian Media, the toddler’s mother, Corine Charles, 20, said she was outside the house washing clothes and had left her infant daughter in the house.
She said she had placed a wooden barrier in front of the doorway to ensure that the child was secured indoors. Charles said her 12-year-old nephew came to her home use the washroom around 8 am.
“Two trucks came in and one turn at the dead end and drove off but the other one stopped and called the boy (her nephew) to ask him directions and is only when the truck drove off he saw Terracina on the road and screamed out to me that the child lying there,” Charles said.
“When I run and see, I saw her...her head was crushed and she was dead. I start to scream and cry,” the mother recounted.
Charles is a stay-at-home mother of two. Her second child, a nine-month-old baby girl is in dire need of medical attention as she is said to have a hole in her heart.
Charles said she believed Terracina saw her cousin standing outside and she rocked the barrier to break free and ran out and stood next to him, near the front of the truck’s wheel. Neither the toddler’s cousin nor the truck driver saw the little girl on the roadway.
A neighbour who saw what happened called the police and then ran out to stop the truck as he was driving away.
“When I stopped him and told him he now run over a child he said to me that he only saw the little boy and no other child or children.”
Other angry villagers armed themselves with cutlasses and attempted to block the road, however, the truck driver drove off and later returned to the area with police officers.
The child was taken by ambulance to the Arima District Health Facility but was pronounced dead on arrival.
The mother, who accompanied the child in the ambulance, said she told the police what her nephew had told her.
The little boy told a relative that he remembered hearing the child rocking the barrier and heard a noise after but didn’t look to see where it came from and whether or not his little cousin was still in the house or not.
The police are yet to take an official statement from the truck driver.
Charles’ husband, Terrance Moonilal, 21, a labourer, said he was at work when he got the tragic news.
“I left home just after 7 am for work and was at work when they called and tell me...I just ask my boss to drop me home.”
Moonilal who was inconsolable recalled happy moments with his first child.
“Every day when I come home from work Terracina waiting to greet me and we would play before she goes to sleep...every morning I would see her before I leave for work. She was a happy child,” he recalled.
The child’s aunt, Tracy Trotman was very emotional and confused as to why the driver did not stop immediately.
“Even if he didn’t see her I would think that he would have felt something that he would have run over something. A person must know the vehicle he drives,” she said.
“We want some kind of justice to what happened here...up to now the driver never came to us. In fact, we the immediate family did not threaten anybody...we never throw any stones or attempt to run him down to beat him. We are quiet people even though we are very emotional in this time of tragedy,” Trotman added.
An autopsy is expected to be conducted at the Forensic Science Centre in St James today.
Children Authority probing
death of four-year-old
In an unrelated incident, authorities are investigating the death of another toddler who was found unresponsive at a children’s home in Sangre Grande on Monday.
A statement from the Children’s Authority said the four-year-old, a resident at the Bridge of Hope Children’s Home, was taken to the Sangre Grande District Hospital where attempts were made to resuscitate him.
According to a release issued by the Authority, its Licensing and Monitoring Unit, which has oversight of the operations of Children’s Homes, was notified by the home’s manager that the child was found unresponsive and an Emergency Response Team was dispatched immediately to investigate.
An autopsy is to be conducted to determine the circumstances surrounding the death of the child.
“The Authority has been working with the Home and police to obtain a detailed account of the events which led to the child’s death,” the release said. Meanwhile, the Authority was providing the necessary support and counselling to the children and staff at the home to deal with the incident.