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The Jamaica Observer
Latoya Lodge, mother of Jody-Ann Lodge, is a dejected woman as she speaks about her daughter.

MAY PEN, Clarendon — Latoya Lodge is a broken woman. Her world as she knew it was shattered on Monday and she would love a chance to confront the man responsible for the crash that claimed the life of her daughter Jody-Ann Lodge and her schoolmate Richard Tulloch.

“Dem fi bring mi go see him, dat dem fi do; bring mi go see him,” the grieving mother muttered when told the police had nabbed the 34-year-old man at Norman Manley International Airport as he allegedly tried to flee the country.

As she spoke she almost reverently went through her daughter’s bloodied school bag perched in her lap. Inside, along with a handful of hard cover notebooks, was $2,000 for Jody-Ann’s lunch. The teenager never made it to school.

Her head hung low, her voice trailing off in-between sentences, Lodge described how she learnt of the death of her 16-year-old child who they fondly called Princess.

“She and her little sister left for school this morning, a she alone come back,” she sighed.

News came via a phone call to another of her daughter’s cellphone. Flustered, Lodge left the house without shoes.

“I was already getting ready to go May Pen, and a mi daughter run me down with the slippers because a barefoot me reach out a road a go way. She wash off mi foot and put on my slippers, and I don’t remember much after that,” she told the Jamaica Observer at the family home.

She didn’t have the courage to take a close look at the scene of the crash that also left two other students injured, one seriously.

“I didn’t go at the exact spot where the accident was, mi stay from far and look, then I go to the hospital,” Lodge said.

She called her brother and asked him to go see if it was really his niece who had died in the crash.

“Him say him pass the person on the ground, but him never know. He turned back and go on the scene and when he pushed and pushed and when he went she lift up her head because she never dead. Him say a head lick she get because she was out of the car,” Lodge said mournfully.

In-between deep, heavy breaths, she spoke of the quirks that had endeared Jody-Ann to them all.

“She was feisty and quick to cuss out someone, but she is a nice person,” said Lodge.

Jody-Ann was her third child, one of three girls, and she said she took pride in her appearance, especially her hair. She loved wearing glasses.

“She was a proper hot girl,” said Lodge.

Jody-Ann’s uncle Cecil Lodge is among those devastated by her death. He narrowly missed being on the road where it happened.

“Is a good thing mi drive the highway, because if I did take that road, mi would buck up in that accident and all drop down. This rough man, mi stressed out,” he said.

He said the entire family is shaken up and he is particularly worried about his brother, Jody-Ann’s father.

“He has high blood pressure and I don’t even know what to say to him,” he said.

Students of Lennon High School received counselling Monday as they struggled to cope with news that two of their classmates had died on the nation’s roads. Principal Tanesha Powell asked for prayers for her school community and also used the opportunity to ask for a safe and secure school transportation system.

“The students in the rural areas suffer, and this may be one of the challenges that we face. We are asking [for a steady school bus system for the rural schools],” she appealed.

In reacting to the crash, Transport Minister Daryl Vaz said a proposal for operation of the rural transportation for students has been completed by the ministry and will be presented to Cabinet on Monday of next week.

According to police reports, a Subaru Impreza was travelling westward towards Four Paths. It is alleged that the driver lost control of the vehicle and collided with an Isuzu motor truck which caused it to overturn and crash into a Toyota Probox. The police were summoned and a total of five passengers were taken to the hospital where the two students succumbed to their injuries. The police said the driver left the scene of the crash but was held at the airport shortly before noon.

There have been allegations that the Subaru crashed as the driver tried to elude the police. Assistant Commissioner of Police Gary McKenzie, who is in charge of Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB), said police who were pursuing the car stopped after seeing his reckless overtaking, and soon after they received reports that the vehicle had crashed.

According to McKenzie, the vehicle was being illegally operated as a taxi and the insurance had expired.
Jamaica
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2024-12-03
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