Abby-Gail Lugg - Contributed
From her smile to her extra-curricular achievements everyone, including her classmates, at Greater Portmore Primary School had good words to say about 10-year-old Abby-Gail Lugg, who was mowed down by a minibus on Tuesday morning.
Like on previous occasions, Abby-Gail was accompanied to the bus stop by her older sister, 14-year-old Deniele McLean. However, shortly after Abby-Gail said her goodbyes and was crossed to the bus stop, the driver lost control of the vehicle that slammed into commuters who were at the bus stop on the busy Washington Boulevard, near the Cooreville Gardens/Duhaney Park intersection.
"I used to bring them to the bus stop myself, but because I had a baby recently, I stopped," said the mother, Diane Morris.
Consistently jovial
The mother of three said her daughter was consistently jovial, and enjoyed sharing whatever she had with others.
"She liked to say, 'Mommy I love you and any time me get rich I am going to give you a lot of money'," smiled Ms. Morris.
"I feel hurt that she was standing at the bus stop, and this man drive into her. It's not like she was doing something wrong or she was in the middle of the road," she said.
Yesterday, at Abby-Gail's school in St. Catherine, principal Maxine Thomas, teachers and administrative staff members huddled around a computer watching tapes and viewing photographs of Abby-Gail, who was known throughout the institution as an eloquent speaker.
"Abby-Gail was a star. Not only the school, but Jamaica has lost a great child," said Ms. Thomas.
Last year, at age nine, Abby-Gail won the district Optimist Club Oratorical speech competition. For the competition, her essay was entitled, 'My future is bright because'.
"There were about 16 students from different Caribbean Islands and this nine-year-old just mesmerised the judges," recalled Miss Thomas, holding back tears.