Relatives prepare nine-night for five cousins killed in crash

It has been nine days since Raheem Campbell, 20, and four of his cousins lost their lives in a crash along the Temple Hall main road in St Andrew.

Although preparing for the nine-night memorial later today, his mother, Indianna Campbell, remains in denial and still listens to hear his motorcycle.

"Today (Sunday) make eight days mi nuh see him and mi see dem a make preparation fi him funeral. Although mi definitely know say him gone, mi still a listen fi hear him come 'round the corner and come kiss mi on mi jaw, and so on. But nothing like that. I don't get a good night's sleep, and mi still a listen to hear him come home. Mi not eating, mi have to force myself to eat," she said.

Last Sunday, Campbell, along with Jamie Marriot, 24; Tajay Murray, 20; Romario Moodie, 17; and Anthony Fuller, 18, were travelling on three motorcycles when they lost control of their vehicles, which collided with a Toyota Hiace travelling in the opposite direction. They died on the spot. There has been talk that the youngsters may have swerved to avoid potholes, resulting in the crash. Three days later, the potholes were repaired, and Campbell is wondering if more timely repairs could have prevented their deaths.

"The potholes have been there for a while ... why it couldn't did do before? That hurt mi. A lot of persons have lost their lives on that stretch, but I don't know if it has to do with the pothole itself. But from Golden Spring come right back to Temple Hall, there has been a lot of accident," she said.

Sherona Beverly, Murray's mother, opined that if the young men had not died, the holes would not have been fixed.

"Dem also need to put up a street light 'round there suh because it dark bad at nights," Beverly said. She added that the past nine days have been agonising.

"Right now a bare pain mi inna. Yuh see mi chest where him use to lay when him a baby and breastfeed, right deh so sore and pain up. Mi just barely a eat, and mi don't know what sleep is like any more. A bare bawl mi a bawl until now, and mi just have to keep looking at his videos," she said.

Beverly said she last spoke with her son approximately three hours before he died. She added that family members were having strange premonitions, and his grandmother, Inez Phillips, had warned him not to travel after 9 p.m.

"Him call mi and say mi must come up because him nah go be there to look at his brother and sister. Him grandmother ask him why him a say that, because him need to be there to cook for them, and him say, 'Grandma, mi nah go deh here.' About a week before him dead, him keep on a tell him grandmother say him don't like how him feel. Him uncle did also get a dream say him drop off him bike and dead," she said. "Him grandmother always a tell him say anywhere him deh after 9 p.m. him must not move and [should] stay where him deh. A come him a come home and 9 o'clock catch him and him dead."

But Beverly also said that she strongly believes witchcraft played a huge role in the death of the youngsters.

"Is a blow dem get, but we leave all vengeance to God to deal with them. Dem say a three a dem, dem set di blow fa and not the other two, but a di five a dem did a par, that's why dem all dead. We a leave who do it to dem judgement because when God a deal with yuh, Him a deal with yuh wicked. Mi eyewater and belly pain nah go down in vain," Beverly said.