Grieving mother: Take care on roads

The mother of Keon Lewis, who died in a road accident on Tuesday, is calling on drivers to be careful after her son died en route to the Scarborough hospital moments after another van collided with his.

Marsha Lewis, who lives in Trinidad, spoke to Newsday at the Scarborough mortuary on Thursday afternoon before the autopsy.

She said she doesn’t want any mother to experience the pain of losing a child in a road fatality, pleading to drivers: “Take your time on the road , don’t drink and drive. My son was not a drinker; I know this for a fact. I have three boys who don’t drink, so no one can’t say he was intoxicated. The only problem I had with him was to put on that seat belt.”

“When I’m in Tobago and we are going anywhere I’ll say, ‘Keon, put on your seatbelt,’ and he would say, ‘Yes, Mammy.’ He would then put it on.

"I pray this happens to no one else because it is a hard thing to lose a loved one."

She said she would like to see the face of the other driver and to know what happened and why.

She said she felt “numb” when she received the bad news from her son’s fiancée.

“I got a call that Keon got into an accident. I asked her what happened. When I called her back she said she couldn’t talk.

"Even with that I was still not thinking the worst. When she called me back bawling I knew that that was the end of my child – I started bawling.”

Keon, who was the eldest of three children, worked at the Tobago House of Assembly. His mother described him as her confidant.

She said the last time she communicated with her son was on Sunday, when they checked each other and talked about his six year-old daughter.

“But on Tuesday whole day I kept telling myself I needed to call him, because the communication between us was very close. I could have called him for anything. We talked almost every other day.

"I’m just trying to be strong but inside I’m empty. Yes, he is gone," she said, trying to console herself, "but I have piece of him, through his daughter to cherish.”

She said Keon was "a loving and obedient child; he was not rude. He was a handyman in everything, he was a carpenter. He loved and cherish his one daughter, he loved to cook and love his belly; that was Keon. He was the love of my life.”

Lewis is calling on the police to do a thorough investigation into the accident.

“I’m told the van ran into his vehicle and he died. I also understand that the other driver was intoxicated.

"I don’t know what to think I hope police find the truth behind this incident.”

Preliminary reports indicate Lewis, of Village Street, Mt St George, was driving his Nissan Navara south when, on exiting Silk Cotton Trace, he came into the path of the panel van, which was travelling west along Store Bay Local Road. Lewis was extracted from the Navarra and taken to the hospital by fire service ambulance. He was taken to the Scarborough General Hospital, but died on the way.

His autopsy showed he had chest injuries and a severed artery.

The white panel van was driven by Akeem Duncan of Mason Hall.

Police are continuing investigations.