In life, Michael Titus and Ronald Ramtahal were inseparable friends. On Monday, they perished together in the first of three tragic accidents.
Titus, 56, and Ramtahal, 55, both of Papourie Road, Barrackpore, spent their last days mourning the death of their friend Nicholas Kent, a Cepep worker who was shot dead near his Tin Pan Alley home on Friday.
Police said around 5 pm, the men were driving along the Rochard Douglas Road in Ramtahal’s gold-coloured Mazda 929 when he attempted to overtake a line of traffic. He lost control and slammed into the wall of a garage, causing a shed to collapse on the car. Titus, a father of three and welder, and Ramtahal, also a father of three and a truck driver with Junior Sammy Ltd, both died on impact.
Speaking at her home yesterday, Shelly-Ann Titus-Victor said her father was liming with Ramtahal and was going to a cookout with other friends.
“I was with my mom when someone called and said he got in an accident. They did not say that he was dead.
“When we came home everyone was in the yard and they told us he passed away. We heard that he was drinking with a friend and, from the bar, they were going to have a cook. They overtook a line of cars on the road, hit a pothole and they lost control,” Titus-Victor said.
She said her mother, Cheryl Titus, and brother were taking the death badly.
Titus-Victor said her father and Ramtahal were friends since school days, adding her father and Kent were also part of a newly formed rhythm section which partnered with the Barrackpore Police Youth Club for Carnival.
“He was enjoying life and he loved spending time with his five grandchildren. He was like a soldier in the village who everyone loved. Just this weekend he was saying that he was the last ‘ironman’ in Barrackpore after his friend Kent died. He was taking on that too so he was drinking all weekend,” she said.
At Ramtahal’s home, his brother Randy said when he went to the scene his brother was already dead. Other relatives said he had just returned from work and went to lime, but they were not sure where he went to.