Deadly smash-up

At two this morning Stacey Seale looked into her 19-year-old son Delano Seale’s bedroom to see if he had got in from work.

She did not see him there.

Half-hour later, the mother of three heard a knock on her front door.

When she looked to see who was there, she saw members of the Royal Barbados Police Force who informed her that Delano had died tragically in an accident.

“My perfect son gone. All I can say is that Delano was the perfect son a mother wanted. Delano was a very good boy. I still can’t believe my perfect son gone,” a grieving Seale said as she spoke to Barbados TODAY, as she sat in a chair in the living room of her Eagle Hall, St Michael home.

The former St Leonard Boys’ student died in a collision involving a car and a wrecker truck, at the intersection of Tweedside Road, Government Hill, Welches Road, St Michael, around 1:10 a.m.

The employee of the Hilton Hotel was the front seat passenger of the Toyota Corolla driven by Romario Roach, 20, of Greenidges, St Lucy.

According to police, the wrecker truck was being driven by Tennyson Maynard, 59, of Frere Pilgrim, Christ Church, who was travelling east from Tweedside Road, towards Government Hill, while the car was travelling from the Nita Barrow roundabout towards Welches Road when the accident occurred.

Two fire tenders and eight fire officers used the Jaws of Life to remove the body of the deceased from the vehicle.

Roach suffered pain to his feet, chest, head and upper body and was transported to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by ambulance. Maynard sustained no immediate injuries.

Seale said she would never forget what was before her eyes when she got to the scene and identified her son’s body, and saw the condition of the car in which he was travelling.

“When I saw that car . . . He [Roach] in the hospital, the truck man living, and my child dead, ” the teary-eyed Seale said.

Meanwhile, the mother said she was wondering how come Delano did not come home with the hotel’s shuttle, or his uncle who usually waited until he was finished work to give him a ride home.

“His uncle does be up in Paddock Road and would go for him. I am not sure, but this is the first time I hear about he coming home with somebody else. Sometimes he would ride to work and his uncle would come with the van and put the bicycle in the back. From the time I hear about the accident, I thought he was with his uncle. I say it is either he uncle or he with the shuttle van,” Seale said, pointing out that she was struggling to cope with the loss.

Seale recalled that she spoke to her son on Monday evening, when he called her to ask if he could have eaten food that was in the fridge.

At 12:20 a.m. he called his younger brother and told him he was on his way home.

Seale boasted that many mothers wished they had a son like hers. She said Delano was mannerly, obedient, and followed her advice to stay out of trouble.

“The only body who don’t like he is who don’t know he. Everybody like this little boy. He is 19 years old, and if I tell he don’t, it is that, he ain’t doing it. He still use to hear,” the mother said.

The residents of Delano’s community were also shocked and saddened at the sudden death. Several residents said they admired not only the young man’s good behaviour, but also his willingness to follow the right path.

Dale Cox, one of three women comforting Seale at the time Barbados TODAY visited her home, recalled that they affectionately called Delano “big one” because of his physical build.

“He would get up and help she [Seale] do anything. If she ain’t finish cook he would finish the gravy. He could cook better than he own mother when he ready. He was really a nice, respectable boy. He wasn’t rude, he would always speak to people. He would go to work, home and horse racing. He could tell you everything the commentator saying,” Cox said.

Seale added that her son loved horse racing, and noted that he enjoyed last Saturday’s Gold Cup, at the Garrison Savannah.

“From the time he was nine years old he was around the Garrison just watching races with his father. From the time he know how to catch the bus, he going by himself,” Seale said. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb