Deceased 11-year-old Ian Elroy Gibson was one of three schoolboys running along Sunbury Road, St Philip moments before he was involved in an accident on September 18, 2009.
He died two days later - September 20, 2009 - at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Gian Holder, the driver of the motorcar involved in the incident on that Friday ten years ago, gave evidence in the No. 2 Supreme Court today.
Holder took the stand this afternoon as the manslaughter trial against Shaquille Shamal Khalleel Bradshaw and Doniko Javier Alleyne both of Balls Land, Christ Church and Maria Antoinette Goddard of Parish Land C, Balls Land, Christ Church got underway.
All three accused who ranged in age from 12 to 14 were students of the Princess Margaret Secondary School at the time of the incident.
Holder told the jury through questioning by Principal Crown Counsel Alliston Seale that he was returning from a Six Roads establishment where he had purchased something to eat and was driving on Sunbury Road in the direction of Church village.
“I saw three boys running, they were in a line, one up front and two behind. When I got by the boys, I felt the impact on the left side of the vehicle. I got out and saw the little boy was on the ground,” Holder told the court presided by Justice Randall Worrell.
He disclosed that a gentleman he knew came and told him to “step back” but he “was scared not knowing what was going on”. The police he said came shortly after and so did the ambulance.
“The little boy who impacted the vehicle was the same one who was running,” said Holder who stated that he was not exceeding the speed limit nor was he driving recklessly on that day.
Under cross-examination by attorney-at-law Arthur Holder who is representing accused Bradshaw along with attorney Danielle Mottley, the driver also stated that all three boys were dressed in khaki short pants.
The deceased’s father also took the stand today and said his son was like any 11-year-old boy. Victor Cadogan said he had never received any complainants from educational officials about problems with his son’s behavior.
“He go long to school very decent . . . [but] left home to go school [that day] and never returned,” he said.
Cadogan revealed that he was at home sleeping that Friday but “jump up from sleep”. He said it was normally the time that Gibson came home but instead he got a call from one of his son’s former teachers telling him about the accident.
“I hear he get lick down by a car. [When I got there] I saw a lot of people on the road and he on the side of the road, in a pool of blood, in his school clothes,” the dad said adding that he son never spoke to him that afternoon or anytime after that.
“He just look up at me and that is all . . . he did not speak with me. He was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and I went in the ambulance with him.”
The father remained at the QEH by his son’s bedside until Sunday and when he decided to finally go home, he received the news.
“As I get home, a little while after the doctor call and tell he had pass away. I went back . . .and he was lying on the ward just so . . . and I had to identify him.
“He was cool and calm when he left home that Friday morning,” Cadogan disclosed.
Dr Stephen Jones who conducted the postmortem on the body of the then first form Princess Margaret student also gave evidence.
He said Gibson had several injuries including, “comminuted fractures” in his left leg and lower jaw, a fracture in the floor of his skull, abrasions and contusions on his knee, a crushed injury to one of his right fingers, lacerations to the right side of the face, clotting in the ear, blood in the chest cavity, collapsed spleen and his brain was swollen.
“ I am of the opinion that cause of death was due to severe trauma to the head, chest, abdomen . . . they are consistent with the injuries you can get with being struck by a motor vehicle . . . [the force] was moderate to severe,” the pathologist revealed.
Attorney-at-law Angella Mitchell-Gittens is representing Goddard and Alleyne. The case continues tomorrow.
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