Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Classmates at Dinthill Technical High School mourn behind the desk of Sashay Wilson, who perished last week Tuesday in a car accident.

Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Writer

Spanish Town, St. Catherine:

Cordella Douglas squeezed her eyes as if trying to hold back the tears as she told The Gleaner how she was told she had lost her daughter, Sashay Wilson, who died tragically in a vehicular accident last week Tuesday.

"I was called to the hospital, a lady gave me a seat and tell mi that they tried but could not save her, I felt an emptiness in my stomach, which hurt badly but I still did not believe that she was dead," said Cordella as she sat in the principal's office at her daughter's former school in St. Catherine.

Douglas said it was two days before that she spoke with her daughter, telling her to hold her head high and make the family proud and, still in denial, she did not know it was her mutilated body she would have been called to identify.

Sashay's father, Winston Wilson, said he was yet to cry, but still asked the question "why Sashay?"

Void that will never be filled

They said it was a void that will never be filled. Meanwhile, nearly a week after the incident, students, teachers and all who came across the affable 16-year-old, were still mourning her untimely passing.

The sadness hangs over Dinthill Technical High School like a physical thing and, during the visit by The Gleaner news team, even security personnel spoke highly of the late Miss Wilson.

"It is indeed a sad loss to the school and she was well loved, so much so that the students had to be counselled upon hearing the news as most were crying," remarked Principal Dennis Clarke.

According to work experience coordinator Novlette Malcolm, the teenager was sent to work at a fast-food place in Portmore, (Tastee Patty) and made such an impact that several persons from the organisation went to her home to mourn her passing.

In the classroom where her desk remained unoccupied, her classmates milled around, all with sadness etched on their faces and it was clear they were mourning Sashay's passing.

Sashay's memory continues to linger in the class with several poems written in her honour being penned by members of her class. Sashay's picture also pointed to the students' willingness to remember their friend, as they wore the image like medals around their necks.

One student, André Rowe, described her as "always cheerful and it is very sad that her smile will not radiate the class as before."

Her best friend was too stricken by grief to say much, weeping openly after being asked to describe the late teenager.

The sense of sadness over Sashay's passing has taken over the Dinthill Technical High School and, even more so, the Home Economics Technical Department where she was an A student.

Sashay Wilson was one of four females to perish around 7:30 p.m. near Kitson Town in St. Catherine, following a three-vehicle collision. Several calls have been made since, for stricter regulations where indisciplined drivers are concerned.