ST JOHN’S, Antigua : A deadly early morning crash has left four children fatherless and an All Saints woman with an amputated leg.
Andre Jno Baptiste, 38, died on the spot after his motorcycle, A 32194, crashed into a concrete fence and landed on a garbage receptacle outside a Coolidge home near Stanford Watch Tower on Sir George Walter Highway.
Police told OBSERVER Media the deceased, who resided at Golden Grove, was driving northbound at about 4:55 am when the cycle ran off the road.
His 30-year-old companion, Joyanne Joseph, who was the pillion rider, was thrown from the cycle and her left leg was severed in the process. At press time she was listed in stable condition at Mount St John’s Medical Centre.
It appeared neither Jno Baptiste nor Joseph wore safety helmets.
Screeching tyres and two crashing sounds alerted residents to the accident.
“I heard the noise from the tyres and the impact apparently from when the bike hit our fence and garbage bin and then I heard a woman screaming,” one resident recalled.
The woman’s leg was found behind the receptacle and taken to hospital for possible reattachment.
Some hours later, a district doctor made the official pronouncement of Jno Baptiste’s death.
By then scores of people had gathered on the scene.
Relatives, including the dead man’s mother, a sister, an aunt, and one of his four sons broke down in tears as the body was being removed from the scene to the hearse bound for Barnes Funeral Home.
Relatives said they had no knowledge where the duo was headed at the time of the tragedy.
However, they said Jno Baptiste, who lived with his mother, left home around midnight to take his partner to the pre-Carnival Red Eye fete.
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