Dad rues double tragedy as brother kills sibling in crash

Seventy-four-year-old Hubert Mike stared at the broken motorcycle parts close to his home and business place in Byles district, near Kitson Town, trying to make sense of a crash that claimed the life of his 35-year-old son, Kenish Oneil Mike.

In a double tragedy that occurred about 1:30 Monday morning, Kenish was killed after he collided with a Honda motor car driven by his brother that climbed a steep embankment and overturned with two sisters and his brother’s girlfriend who were passengers.

The surviving brother has not been named.

“Him borrow the bike and tell the owner he was coming to the house, but when him reach the house, him pass, and then mi hear say him crash right near to the house inna him brother car with him sister dem inna it,” the senior Mike recounted, as he tried to drown out the devastation with alcohol.

The siblings in the car, which flipped on impact, sustained superficial injuries and were treated and released.

The Mike family is also disturbed by the cruel irony that the St Catherine crash site was the same spot where Jamaica Labour Party political aspirant died after the vehicle he was driving slammed into an embankment.

Omar Francis was set to contest the local government elections, due by 2023, in the Point Hill division.

“Mi could a lose all five of dem, but God love mi, and mi give thanks and praise because we still deh yah, and mi don’t cry, because if me cry the whole family gone down, mi have to keep up for them,” Hubert Mike said in a Gleaner interview.

It’s not the first crash nightmare for the Mikes. Some years ago, the father of nine adults had lost a child who was hit from his bicycle by a motorist.

Hubert said that he had been watching a movie when Kenish was killed mere metres from his dad’s house.

Running without his slippers, Hubert dashed on to the road but arrived only in time to see his son being lifted into a vehicle.

“But when mi look on him, mi know say him gone, but mi was still praying,” he disclosed.

The senior Mike said he always viewed Kenish as a special child after he and his mother were almost washed away during June flood rains 35 years ago when he was taking her to the hospital to deliver Kenish.

“Mother, son, daughters – mi have to take time and calm them down and let them know that it happen already and we can’t do nothing,” the family patriarch said.

“One more gone out the family; seven left, Father save the rest, so we have to give thanks and praise,” he added.

Several fatal accidents have occurred along the crash hotspot over the years.

Two hundred and fifty-eight people have been killed in 230 fatal crashes since the start of the year.

Fatalities and fatal crashes have decreased by one per cent when compared with corresponding period in 2021.

Motorcyclists account for 26 per cent of the road users killed this year

ruddy.mathison@gleanerjm.com