'I'm still waiting for Daddy to come home'

Little did the Stewart and Wynter families know that they would have to witness a devastating tragedy just hours before the scheduled funerals of loved ones.

Such was the case as Walton McDonald, 54; Jeffrey Wynter, 51; André Thompson and Jeffrey Brown, both 17 years old, were killed early Sunday morning when a car ploughed into a yard filled with mourners in Clarendon.

The wake was taking place at the Wynters' residence and persons attending another wake at the Stewarts' home had stopped by.

The teens were neighbours and are said to have been very close friends, while McDonald and Wynter were in-laws.

"I saw my father when they placed him in the police car. He looked as though he was sleeping and was very clean. I am still expecting Daddy to come through the gate anytime now," said Grace-Ann Wynter, Jeffrey Wynter's daughter.

She said she did not see when the car hit her father or any of the other victims, but she heard the screeching and the screams that ensued. Grace-Ann said she ran towards the commotion and saw her father lying face down.

Nadine Whitley, Jeffrey Wynter's common-law-wife, said they had been together for more than 30 years and that he had been a good father to his five children.

Broke down

"At first, when I heard the sounds outside, I thought it was gunshot because the car hit each person one at a time. Is not until I came outside they told me is car accident," Shemelin Davis, McDonald's step-daughter and Wynter's niece, recounted with tearfully.

"So I went looking and saw a man on the ground and turn him over, only to see it was my uncle."

She said McDonald's wife, Novelette McDonald, was severely affected by the ordeal and broke down completely at the sight of her husband's body.

Pauline Bailey, André Thompson's grandmother, said he was to start school at the Knox Community College next week. She said the entire community of Content in York Town was mourning the deaths of the two friends as they were both well loved by the community and were promising young men.

Bailey said all the families could now do was pray and take it in stride as God knew best.

- Jermaine Francis