Family members of road accident victim Kaylee Poonan are heartbroken over her death but have no ill-will towards her boyfriend who was driving the car that crashed and led to her fatal injuries. Ronnie Ramkissoon, an uncle of 17-year-old Poonan who spoke to the Express yesterday on behalf of the family, said the driver, Navin Bedassie, 19, loved his niece and she wanted to marry him. Sitting in the garage of the family’s home on Peterloo Street in Friendship Village near Princes Town, where her wake is being held, Ramkissoon said, “We do not have any bad feelings towards him (Bedassie).
There was a car accident with them and we have left that situation right there. In life, there are gains and losses, and this time we have a loss. If that was how she had to go, we accept that.
It was just her time. We do not hold anyone in mind for this.” A post-mortem done at the mortuary of the San Fernando General Hospital on Thursday concluded tat Poonan died as a result of head trauma suffered in the collision two days earlier on the northbound lane of the Solomon Hochoy Highway.
On Tuesday, Bedassie was driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution north along the highway, when on reaching 200 metres before the Papourie overpass the vehicle skidded off the roadway and crashed into a utility pole. Poonan was seated in the front passenger seat when the car picked up the skid, causing Bedassie to lose control, police said. The car wrapped around the light pole and Poonan died in the vehicle.
Bedassie, of Pundit Street, Debe, was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital, where he remains in serious condition. Ramkissoon said earlier that day, his niece had helped Bedassie in the family-owned doubles and Indian delicacies stall in Debe. He was dropping her home when tragedy struck.
The uncle said his niece had been in a relationship with Bedassie for over a year and she wanted to marry him. “They did not set a date yet but she wanted to sit and discuss getting married. On September 15 she would have turned 18 but she already knew she had an idea of what she wanted for her future,” said the uncle.
Describing the teenager whom he knew from birth, Ramkissoon said, “She was a beautiful person inside and out. She loved her family and was always a jolly person. Family, friends, villagers—everyone crying and cannot believe this happened.
” Of Bedassie’s driving, Ramkissoon said, “Normally they would go out and come back home safely. I never saw him drive ‘hard’ because previously he had a ‘drop-low’ vehicle. I do not know if anything was different when he got this vehicle.
He bought it a week ago. The car went into the garage to tune up and when he got it he came here driving cool and calm.” Ramkissoon said he did not speak to witnesses at the scene of the collision, as he was too distraught over the loss of his niece.
The uncle said the family was upset about social media posts about Poonan being pregnant, which were untrue. He also said the person behind the wheel in a video that emerged on social media of the burgundy car that Bedassie was driving in the collision was not Bedassie. “That was an old video and it was not him driving the car.
I do not know where people are getting their information from. Kaylee was not pregnant. People on social media need to stop their nonsense,” he said.
Ramkissoon said at the scene of the crash, his niece bore no visible injuries and he was so grief-stricken that he tried to wake her up to take her home. “I hugged her, I cried, I tried to wake her up. She grew up as a daughter to me.
From the moment I saw the vehicle, I knew she was dead. Fire trucks and the ambulance responded on time. They cut the car and took him out.
“She did not have any injuries on her. She looked perfect. She looked like she was asleep.
I tried to wake her up. She never responded to me. I even tried to make a joke with her.
They told me not to touch the body, because I wanted to take her up and bring her home,” the uncle wept. Ramkissoon hoped the police would continue to have speed-trap exercises and catch reckless and dangerous motorists. To motorists, he advised, “Please take your time, always drive with caution.
Drive for others on the road.” Officers of the San Fernando Police Station are continuing investigations..
