Five-month baby dies in car crashBy CECILY ASSON Sunday, February 10 2013
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John Lee Aping 25, who was killed when the car he was driving collided with another vehicle along the SS Erin Road....
A five-month-old baby is among two people dead in a car crash in south Trinidad. And police are also investigating two murders, one of a young mother of Penal and another of a 23-year-old man of Fyzabad.
In a vehicular accident during the wee hours of yesterday morning at Palo Seco, the baby, Shamayah Charles, was killed when the car in which she was a passenger, crashed into another car. The driver of the car, John Lee Aping, 25, was also killed while the baby’s mother was, up to yesterday, warded at hospital. According to police reports, Aping was driving his vehicle, a Toyota Carolla, at about 2.30 am along the SS Erin Road in the vicinity of the Palo Seco Credit Union, when he swerved to avoid a large pothole on the road. The report stated that the car collided with a silver Mazda 323 driven by Trevor Murrain, who was heading in the opposite direction. Aping, a mechanic of Coora Road, Siparia, died on the spot.
Investigators are working on the theory that baby Shamayah may have drowned when the car plunged into a open drain filled with stagnant water following the head-on collision. Her mother, Josanne Charles, 25, was sitting in the front passenger seat and holding her. Charles, of Number 9, Palo Seco, suffered two broken arms and other minor injuries and remains warded in satisfactory condition at the San Fernando General Hospital.
Also warded in serious condition at hospital is Murrain, the driver of the other vehicle, and passenger Kizzy Grant who was a passenger in that car.
Shamayah’s grandmother, Merlin Charles, 64, yesterday told Sunday Newsday the baby had only just began standing. She said her daughter Josanne had, earlier in the day, taken her three children including Shamayah to the launch of Carnival in Penal. “The two older children were by me and she had gone to Siparia and was returning home with the baby when the tragedy occurred,” she said.
Meanwhile, Aping’s mother, Marlene Lewis, 47, yesterday sat outside her humble home saying she still could not believe her son was dead.
“He was a good one, never gave me no trouble, not one day in his life. He was a boy who always listened. I am in shock right now and don’t know how I will get through this one,” she said
Police are also investigating the death of Stella Rampersad, 30, of Moolchan Trace, Penal who was found lying motionless at home by relatives. She was pronounced dead on arrival at the Siparia Health Facility. A police report stated that around 6.30 pm on Friday, Rampersad was involved in an altercation with a close male relative, during which time she sustained injuries. She was rushed for medical attention and later succumbed to her injuries. A Guyanese national has since been detained in connection with the incident.
Yesterday Krishna Rajpath , 64, and his wife Latmin, 60, were inconsolable over the death of their daughter.
Six weeks ago, Rampersad gave birth to her third child, Rianna. The children are expected to undergo counselling as they were present during the altercation between their mother and the relative.
Sgt Jacob is conducting investigations.
In a separate incident, police are also investigating the death of Akeem Hamlet, 23, of Delhi Road, Fyzabad who was discovered bound and gagged with chop wounds to the head in the David Williams Recreation Ground at Lachoos Road, Penal. A team of officers from the Penal CID and Southern Homicide Bureau visited the scene. The District Medical Officer viewed the body and ordered it be removed to the Forensic Science Centre for an autopsy.
