‘Mi baby nuh live nuh life yet’ - Anger and pain after 8-y-o mowed down at school gate

When Everett McLean heard that his eight-year-old son Dilshan had been hit down by a car last Friday, he immediately thought someone was playing a cruel April Fools' Day prank.

But the nightmare was very real as Dilshan died at the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine, hours after he and a schoolmate were struck down by a motorist outside of their school Bridgeport Primary. The other student, a girl, is in serious but stable condition. Police say the incident occurred about 1: 50 p.m. It is alleged that Dilshan and the other student walked into the road as the vehicle was approaching which hit both of them. The driver of the Toyota Hiace involved in the incident has been warned for prosecution.

McLean said that he went to the school to pick Dilshan up but could not find him. He thought that he had passed him in a crowd of children on the sidewalk.

"About 15 minutes after I was there looking for him, I hear the kids dem cry out. So I walked to the fence and I asked the vendor what's going on and she told me a little boy and girl got hit down," he said. McLean said that a little boy asked him if his son was wearing a pair of Clarks shoes. When he responded in the affirmative, the child told him that it was Dilshan who had been hit. Wondering if it was a prank, McLean contacted the school's principal who accompanied him to Dilshan's classroom. But the teacher told him to check in the school yard.

"I didn't see him and I walked back to the car park but he wasn't there either. Afterwards, I saw a teacher walking with a lunch kit and told me it was his and that my son was hit by a vehicle. I instantly told myself it was a minor accident because it was a school zone so no one would be speeding," McLean said.

DISTRAUGHT FATHER

The distraught father said that when he got to the Spanish Town Hospital, a doctor informed him and Dilshan's mother Monique Hill that they were doing their best to save him. About 8:30 p.m. they got the terrible news.

"I expected another news but when the doctor looked at us and told us that Dilshan is no longer with us, I couldn't cry. I really couldnt cry, I went in a shock," he said. Hill screamed in anguish as she recalled the moment when she heard that her son could not be located.

"When Everett call mi, I know something was wrong, mi belly start hurt mi same time. When mi call the teacher, nobody nah answer mi. Him call mi back and him say 'Monique a Dilshan get lick down' and mi just start cry because mi know say summen wrong. Mi call a taxi and go a the hospital and mi hear say mi baby inna ICU. Mi keep on a ask the doctor if mi baby alright and him say him wasn't breathing properly when him come in," she wailed.

Despite his age, Dilshan, who was in grade three, knew he wanted to be a medical doctor. He also liked to dance and left a memorable impression on anyone who met him. Naturally he was the apple of his parents' eyes. The only child for Hill, he often joked with her that he was the only man she would ever need.

"Mi baby nuh live nuh life yet," Hill wailed from the family's Caymanas Estate home.

"Mi can't tell nobody say mi is a mother again. A mi one likkle company and mi best friend dem take weh from mi. A mi one baby gone. Tomorrow (Monday) a school and Dilshan nah go school," she said between tears.

"This morning [Sunday] mi deh church. The pastor call up all the children dem for prayer and mi sit and watch all a dem go up but mi baby never in there. Unno take away my life," Hill lamented.