Mentally ill man killed in accident

IN THE middle throngs of party-goers who attended a Carnival band-launching in Siparia, a 20-year-old man was struck down and killed by a car on Saturday night. The victim Jody Jeffery, of Coora Road, Siparia, an out-patient of a Siparia psychiatric clinic, died on the spot. Yesterday his distraught mother Rosemarie Nicholls, insisted that her son was standing on the side of the road when he was killed. She said Jeffery had gone to the band-launching at China Garden Restaurant, High Street, with relatives and friends, after attending mass at the La Divina Church, which ended at 8 pm. She said around 10.50 pm, the telephone rang and she heard people screaming in the background and the phone went silent.

Two minutes later, the phone rang again and someone told her, “yuh son was in a bad accident” and that she should come now. The mother of three said she thought Jeffery was being taken to the hospital so she began packing a bag for him. “Next thing I hear, a woman running down the road saying that my son dead,” she said. Nicholls described her son as a very nice person who would have done anything for anyone. An autopsy will be carried out today at the San Fernando Mortuary. Police have since questioned a 33-year-old man of Quarry Village, Siparia, who was reportedly driving the maroon Primera, which struck Jeffery. Visiting the scene were a party of officers from Siparia CID including Cpl Minors, PC Ramdass and Pancham. Investigations are continuing.