Girl, 4, killed crossing road

A four-year-old girl died at the Cocorite Community Hospital yesterday from head injuries, after the driver of a car ran into her and her 12-year-old sister in the vicinity of the traffic lights, near the fish market on the western end of the Foreshore. Her death brings the number of persons killed in road traffic accidents for the year to 67. Up to this time last year, 80 persons had died from 62 accidents. According to reports, Kimberly Phillip, a student of Little Angels Kindergarten School in Diamond Vale, and her sister Keisha, 12, were crossing the road at around 8.40 am, when the driver of a car proceeding east ploughed into them.

The driver took the injured children to the nearby Cocorite Community Hospital, where Kimberly died from head injuries. Keisha was treated and warded for back and neck injuries. Cpl Ferguson and others from the St James Police Station visited the scene and the driver of the car was interviewed. Petal Phillip, the dead child’s mother, was informed of the death and was allowed to view the body of her daughter. When Newsday visited the Farfan Hill, Cocorite home of the victim, her mother and father Kerwin Vidale, were too distraught to be interviewed.
Neighbours of the accident victim described her as a “little angel” who was loved by everyone who knew her. Lystra Phillip, Kimberly’s aunt, told Newsday that she was a bright child who was always combing someone’s hair. She also liked to wash dishes. “She was the light of the house, and now that she is gone, we are sure that the light has gone,” said the grieving Lystra.

On July 5, Kimberly would have celebrated her fifth birthday and a grand birthday party was being organised by her aunts and neighbours. Lystra revealed that Keisha, a student of the Diego Martin Junior Secondary School, was still warded at the Community Hospital and was being kept for observation. She added that a doctor at the hospital who attended to the sisters did not charge anything for his services, and tried very hard to save Kimberly’s life. She was told that due to the extent of the head injuries, oxygen was cut off from the brain causing death. Cpl Fergurson of the St James Police Station is investigating.