‘My heart is gone’ – mother of boy crushed to death by garbage truck

By Shikema Dey

The family of nine-year-old Enam Holder, who was crushed to death by a garbage truck in C’ Field Sophia, Georgetown on Sunday, is still struggling to come to grips with his passing.

According to the young man’s distraught mother, Roxxanne Holder, her heart died with her son. The woman and her husband, Nigel Holder, spoke with the News Room on Monday.

“I [would] go to work and come home and he is there to hug and kiss me and he would ask me, ‘mommy, how was your day?’ He would make me laugh and smile.

“I would watch him play with my grandson because it is fun to watch them play. But now is like I do not have any strength [in] my body now that he gone. My heart is gone,” the woman related in tears.

According to the father, he was only 40 feet away from home when he was informed of the accident.

“A child run and came to me and said that my son got crush with a garbage truck, and when I got where the crowd was, I saw his body on the road, his head was smashed in flat.”

The older Holder relayed that he saw his son a mere 10 minutes prior to the accident as he was making his way home from his Uncle’s shop nearby.

Meanwhile, an eyewitness to the accident, Maylene Seemangal, explained to the News Room that it was rather unusual for the garbage truck to be out on Sundays as the scheduled day is Saturday.

The woman reported that the pile of mud on the street made it difficult for vehicles to traverse, especially a large garbage truck. She said that as the driver was about to pull off, another neighbour began shouting for him to stop, but those calls went unheeded.

“Another lady in the street had a stroller in her hand and she was screaming and saying stop stop because she saw the child there but like he could not hear what they were saying and he drove off and crushed the boy.”

After the driver realised what transpired, the woman said he immediately called the police, but left in a taxi some moments after, reportedly to head to the police station.

The police report stated that the garbage truck, bearing the number plate GVV 6890, was proceeding east along Church Street in Section ‘C’, Sophia, Georgetown, picking up garbage.

Police said that the driver of the truck stopped in the vicinity of a heap of mud, which was on the southern side of the road, and exited to assist his porter to load the garbage onto the truck.

It was related that after the driver re-entered the truck and started driving, the young pedal cyclist, who was proceeding in the same direction, attempted to ride past the truck to the southern side.  The cyclist, however, rode onto the mud and lost control of his bicycle. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Enam Holder leaves to mourn his parents and three siblings.