Shalini Jewlall, 31, who was struck down along with her seven-year-old daughter while crossing Main Street, New Amsterdam on Sunday, has succumbed to her injuries.
The woman who was originally admitted to the New Amsterdam Hospital was subsequently transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital where she died yesterday.
Her daughter, Marlina Da Silva, was treated at the New Amsterdam Hospital and then discharged. The driver was also treated for his injuries and is now assisting the police with the investigations.
According to reports, Jewlall and her daughter were heading to her mother-in-law’s Strand, New Amsterdam house where they also reside, when the incident occurred. They had just finished visiting their new home (also in New Amsterdam), which is under construction. “They were coming by me. They have a house behind me. They building a house and it near finish, so they does normally sleep there and come back here to cook and do other stuff,” explained a distraught Leila Da Silva.
Da Silva told Stabroek News, she had just returned home from church when she received news of the incident. The woman said it was a member of the church she attends, who informed her of the tragedy. “He call me on the phone and say how he has sad news, so I said, ‘Boy I just come from church and I don’t want hear no sad news,’ but he said he got to tell me anyhow,” Da Silva recalled.
The woman was told that her daughter-in-law and granddaughter had met with a serious accident. “I get so stupid that I had just taken off my clothes and couldn’t find it to put it on back,” she said, noting that by the time she reached the hospital, “she [Jewlall] was semi-conscious and like they give her sedatives.” Da Silva said it was evident that Jewlall’s bones were badly broken. “Like how you smash tomatoes you see how her body smashed up,” she stated.
According to the woman, “they were standing up on the road waiting to cross, and I understand that a car slow down to allow them to cross, because they see her holding a little child. Where this boy [motor cyclist] came from, I don’t know. But he come and pick her up with a speed,” she said. “I believe is the impact when the motor bike hit her, propel the daughter and caused her injuries,” Da Silva speculated.
In tears, Da Silva wailed that it was unfair for her daughter-in-law to be ripped from the family in such a manner, especially given the fact everyone was excited at the prospect of them moving into their own home in two weeks’ time. “They made a lot of sacrifices to own their own home and they were so close, so close,” she lamented. “The little girl does sleep with me because when they staying at the [new] house, they sleeping in a hammock until they fully move in because people does steal materials so they punish themselves for two months to watch the house and materials,” she revealed.
“This morning [yesterday] the doctor called my son, and they told him that her heart stopped and he start crying and telling me Shalini gone, and I say no,” Da Silva disclosed. Da Silva, being a woman of faith, said she was holding out that “a miracle could happen.”
Da Silva said she is worried for her son, Vidian Da Silva, because he appears to be extremely upset over the death of his wife. “It’s like he is not in his right mind, so I told him, remember you get Marlina to live for; don’t give up.”
Da Silva recalled Jewlall being “jovial these last couple days. She normally doesn’t find time to help me pack up what the little girl scatter up. But all of a sudden I see her packing and I say thank you God, not knowing is the last she gone help me pack.”
Da Silva regrets not being able to hold Jewlall’s hands and pray for her. “I did really want to go hold her hand and pray for her. Tell her that you got to live; you got to live for your daughter. I would do everything for you, just come back. No matter if you got to walk with a stick. But I didn’t get to go pray for her,” she lamented.
Meanwhile, after being discharged from the hospital, Jewlall’s daughter Marlina was taken to her maternal relatives on the Corentyne and is yet to be told that her mother has passed away. “She is still in shock and we don’t know how to break the news to her,” Da Silva explained.
A post-mortem examination is expected to take place today.
Investigations are in progress.
