JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Bride-to-be mourns Sando masquerader’s death

... police to inspect failed brakes of music truck

by

Radhica De Silva
11 days ago
20250305

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Pen­sion­er Rose Parks had loved 79-year-old Sel­wyn Lit­tle for many years, ever since she saw him on tele­vi­sion play­ing Fan­cy Sailor mas dur­ing Car­ni­val.

But just months be­fore they were ex­pect­ed to wed, Lit­tle died trag­i­cal­ly when a mu­sic truck lost con­trol and knocked him down at Cipero Street on Car­ni­val Mon­day, killing him on the spot.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia at their Mon Re­pos home yes­ter­day, Parks re­called how Lit­tle al­ways wore the same im­mac­u­late uni­form when he played mas, his jack­et dec­o­rat­ed with rib­bons, medals, braid­ing, and oth­er em­bell­ish­ments to match his Fan­cy Sailor hat.

“It was this same hat he was wear­ing when a mu­sic truck hit him,” Park said be­tween tears as she gazed at the blood stains on Lit­tle’s hat dur­ing the in­ter­view.

Parks said she start­ed tak­ing care of Lit­tle a year ago when he fell ill, al­though she had loved him for many years.

“When I heard he was sick, I came here be­cause I knew I had to take care of him,” she said.

Re­call­ing their last mo­ments to­geth­er, Parks said she al­ways en­joyed her morn­ing cof­fee with Lit­tle.

“The on­ly thing that was wrong with him was his foot was too hot. He al­ways liked to walk out the road, and I would stay home count­ing down the hours,” Parks re­called.

She said Lit­tle had a pas­sion for Car­ni­val and cul­ture, so every­one catered to him be­cause of his age. When he got tired of danc­ing the streets, he would have a jeep at his dis­pos­al to rest, she added.

Parks said Lit­tle had promised to mar­ry her for her birth­day in Au­gust.

“I will miss him. I will miss our talks, our cof­fee, every­thing about him, I would miss,” she whis­pered.

She re­mem­bered how Lit­tle would “break style” on her.

“His friend told him that I was in love with him. It’s on­ly now he re­alised how much,” she added.

Lit­tle’s younger sis­ter, Mon­i­ca Lit­tle, who lived with him at his Cipri­ani Street, Mon Re­pos home, said he re­cent­ly start­ed suf­fer­ing from seizures.

“Be­fore that, we nev­er used to get along so well, but af­ter the seizures he changed and that was my favourite broth­er. I loved him a lot,” Mon­i­ca said.

She not­ed that Lit­tle had been quite pop­u­lar with San Fer­nan­di­ans.

“When we go in the gro­cery, every­body knew him. He used to wave to every­one,” she re­vealed.

His oth­er sis­ter, Pa­tri­cia Lit­tle, who came to vis­it from Al­ber­ta, Cana­da for the Car­ni­val sea­son, said the tragedy was un­ex­pect­ed. She called on band lead­ers to ex­er­cise cau­tion and en­sure the safe­ty of all mas­quer­aders.

Mean­while, Mon Re­pos/Navet coun­cil­lor Nigel Cout­ti­er said the city had lost one of its favourite mas­quer­aders.

He said Lit­tle had been a flag bear­er for Jam­merz In­ter­na­tion­al, a Fan­cy Sailor band, and de­spite his age, he en­joyed the fes­tiv­i­ties.

“His pres­ence dur­ing this time of the year was al­ways up­lift­ing. He played a piv­otal role in mak­ing our Car­ni­val cel­e­bra­tions what they are. His spir­it, warmth, and ded­i­ca­tion will be great­ly missed by all who knew him,” Cout­ti­er added.

On Mon­day, ACP Wayne Mys­tar said ini­tial re­ports were that the brakes in the mu­sic truck failed. Mys­tar urged band­lead­ers to take re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for en­sur­ing ve­hi­cles are road­wor­thy, not­ing that in­spec­tions will con­tin­ue af­ter Car­ni­val.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored