By Trudy Simpson, Staff ReporterTHE PLAYFUL shrieks of small children on Monday contrasted sharply with the subdued atmosphere and the grief on the faces of the relatives of five people, among them two babies, who were killed in a motor vehicle accident on Sunday on the Washington Boulevard in Kingston.
Five-year-old Handel chased another child around the yard, evidently unaware of what the death of his father, Howard Dennis, meant.
Red eyes bespoke a night without sleep for relatives, friends and neighbours gathered at Dennis's house in Cooreville Gardens, Kingston, located less than 15 minutes from the site of the crash on Monday night.
Dennis' other child, 10-year-old Howard Junior, clung to his mother, Marlene Dennis.
"Handel is a bit puzzled, because when you ask him if he is going to go back home, he was saying that not until daddy comes back from heaven," explained Mrs. Dennis, who sat in an armchair looking weary.
"I don't feel like sleeping. I don't feel like eating. I don't feel like nothing," she said, hoarsely. "When I heard, I couldn't believe that they were a part of the accident, because I actually passed the accident out on the road."
She paused abruptly, tears flooding her eyes.
"All along I thought I was going to the hospital to see a sick person. I was hysterical. Even now, I just feel that he is on the road and he will soon come back home," she said.
Mr. Dennis, his sister, 51-year-old Pamela Dennis of Myers Avenue off Shortwood Road; Pamela's son, 33-year-old Paul Jones of Auburn Avenue, Patrick City; his nine-month-old daughter, Paula-Ann, and Paula's cousin, 10-month-old Imani Bingham, were killed a few minutes from home while returning from the Bethel Gospel Assembly, St. Joseph's Road, where Dennis's brother, Dr. Carlton Dennis, was a pastor.
The sole survivor, Camille Jones, Paul's widow, is in intensive care in Kingston Public Hospital (KPH).
"I wonder, why? I really wonder why, but I console myself because God does everything for a reason," Mrs Dennis continued.
"When Howie and I have conversations, I always said that I was the one who was going to go first, because being the sole breadwinner of the family, God nuh so wicked fi teck him first. So I don't know what lesson he is teaching me in this, but they say in everything you have to give thanks. I know that he knows the Lord and I know that I know where he is and that is consoling me," she whispered.
But other relatives, including St. Ann-resident Alicia Stewart-Walker, were inconsolable. Teary eyed, Ms. Walker was too distraught to speak about the death of her daughter, Imani, who had been sent to Kingston to spend time with her grandmother, Pamela Dennis. When Ms. Walker could bring herself to speak it was in a near whisper.
For her part, Camille Jones' mother, Mrs. Janet Sterling, was thanking God for sparing her daughter's life, the second time that Camille had escaped death in serious traffic accident.
But the joy was tempered by grief at Paula Ann's death.
"She was my first grandchild and she's gone and my daughter is in hospital and bwoy, it's heart-breaking," said Mrs. Sterling, as she and other family members prepared to visit Camille at the Kingston Public Hospital. Other family members made their way to the nearby police station to seek information about the fate of the driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident, 20-year-old Xie Jia Fu of Red Hills Road, St. Andrew.
Police reports state the Nissan Sunny motor car, in which the family members were travelling, collided with Fu's Toyota Supra at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Cooreville Gardens, a few minutes from where Mr. Dennis, a tailor and caterer, lived. The crash occurred about 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Fu has since been charged with five counts of manslaughter. But for family members, that had not cleansed grief.
"The last memory I had of my sister was when she saw me at church and she said 'come mi brother, hug me, come mi brother, kiss me' and I hugged her and kissed her," explained Garfield Coke, the Dennis's brother and Paul Jones' uncle.
Coming to the Howard's home from Portmore, St. Catherine, he said that it was difficult to hear each person being confirmed dead "and we weren't sure where the babies were and then the last news, when we were told that the babies had died, it was terrible. It hit home," he said.
He described his big brother, Howard, as a gentleman who was always willing to lend a hand, while Pamela was seen as the caring mother figure who was very loving and was the first to offer comfort and love to children.
"I didn't sleep last night. I had a headache all night. I couldn't sleep. One time, I went outside and walked the streets crying and the neighbours came out and took me back in. I think it hasn't come home to me yet. I think when I go to that funeral and see the five caskets, I don't know. It's too much for one family to bear," he said, his eyes red from crying.
