RADHICA DE SILVA
Senior Multimedia Reporter
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
“Sometimes your friends does carry you and don’t bring you back.”
Those were the words of grief-stricken aunt Nancy Mollineau on Sunday as she struggled to come to terms with the death of her 15-year-old nephew, Adin Baptiste, who died after a crash in Moruga. She is now urging young people to be mindful of the company they keep, warning that one poor decision can end in tragedy.
Speaking outside the family’s home in Basse Terre Village, Moruga, Mollineau recounted the events leading up to the fatal accident involving the Form Three Moruga Secondary School student.
She said Baptiste had been liming at his grandmother’s home around 4 am when a young man from the community arrived, borrowed his phone and later offered to drop another teenager home. Baptiste reportedly joined them, unaware the vehicle had allegedly been stolen.
Minutes later, the car crashed into an electricity pole along Edward Trace, a short distance away.
Baptiste, who was seated in the front passenger seat, became trapped in the wreckage. Residents used tools to free him from the mangled vehicle before placing him on the roadway. He was pronounced dead before emergency services arrived. The driver remains warded at hospital.
Mollineau said the family only discovered the vehicle had allegedly been hijacked after they reached the crash scene.
“He come here… and pick him up, not knowing it was a stolen vehicle,” she said. “All I know is he come and he pick up my nephew… and this is the ending.”
The tragedy has left Baptiste’s mother, Danna Mollineau, devastated. Too overwhelmed by grief to speak, she was surrounded by relatives at the family home.
Describing her nephew as respectful and well-behaved, Mollineau said he had never been in trouble.
“You could ask any teacher about that child. He was very polite. He never get himself in trouble, not one day, not even in school,” she said.
She urged teenagers to think carefully before making decisions and called on parents to remain vigilant.
“Take heed,” she said. “Don’t wait until it reach your doorstep.”
Baptiste’s death comes just days after another 15-year-old, Idris Hosein, was killed along the Solomon Hochoy Highway after taking his father’s motorcycle without permission.
Over the weekend, two other men also lost their lives, including a homeless man struck along the Solomon Hochoy Highway and Jason Ramnanan of Caparo, further adding to the country’s road fatality toll.
As police continue investigations into the circumstances surrounding the stolen vehicle, Mollineau said she hopes her nephew’s death will serve as a warning to other young people.
“How much mothers will cry for the sons or the daughters?” she asked.
“The youths is our future generation. I’m pleading for the youths to listen. Do not wait until it reach your doorstep.”
