Tony Mascall, whose wife Donna was killed when a car crashed into the bedroom of her Longdenville, Chaguanas, home on Sunday, yesterday said he was not accepting the driver’s apology.
“A life was taken. My wife is dead. I cannot take that apology.
“God will forgive but he (the driver) will have to pay for that. He will be the one who will have to ask God for forgiveness,” Mascall told the T&T Guardian as he lay in pain on his hospital bed at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC), Mount Hope.
Yesterday, the T&T Guardian also visited the driver’s home in Longdenville and was met by his mother, who extended a heartfelt apology to the Mascall family on behalf of her son.
“I am a mother too and I feel for the family. They have children and they have lost their mother. We are really sorry for what happen and I know that nothing we can say or do will change anything,” the driver’s mother, who wished not to be identified, said.
She said she would like the Mascalls to also accept the support they were willing to offer them, “whether it be emotional, financial or physical support.”
“We are reaching out to them. We don’t know if they have the finances for the wake and funeral and we are even willing to help in that regard.”
The driver’s mother claimed that her son had been left traumatised by the incident.
“This has all of us traumatised. My son is very responsible and he sees about the well-being of his common-law wife and son. This have him so much in a mess that he doesn’t even want to go outside the house. He is not really talking much and he is having difficulties in sleeping.”
She added, “From the bottom of our souls we sympathise with the family and are hoping that they find it in their hearts to forgive us for a situation that was not planned.”
Engines woke me up
But Mascall remained adamant that he was not softening his heart to the apology.
Recalling the incident, Mascall said he was awakened from his sleep moments before the crash by sounds of racing car engines.
“I sat up in my bed and was listening to the car engines racing off. It sounded like cars drag racing. Then the sound came louder and louder as though it was headed my way and before I knew it I heard a loud explosion like if a bomb exploded,” he said.
“I fell back on the bed and I heard my wife scream out so loud and then I heard my son gasping for breath. All I could have shouted was, ‘O God save my child.’”
Mascall said he remembered the car being on him and minutes after the crash the car door opened and the driver stepped on him and ran out of the car.
“It felt like a truck was on top of me and all I could feel was the exhaust burning through my left foot.”
On Monday night the first part of reconstructive surgery was done to Mascall’s left foot, as it was burnt to the bone. Part two of the surgery is carded for tomorrow and the third part for sometime next week.
Mascall’s three-year-old son, Andrew, was again taken to the EWMSC yesterday for a further medical check-up and for redressing of the wound to his head.
Mascall’s wife’s funeral is scheduled for tomorrow and Mascall said he was hoping to be discharged to attend it.
“My wife and I have been together for the past seven years and I have to say goodbye to her,” he said.
“I just want the doctors to release me for the funeral and then take me back so they can do the second part of the surgery. I don’t want my son to be in the funeral though, because he has been through enough already.”
The incident occurred at about 1 am on Sunday at Palmiste, Longdenville, Chaguanas. The driver, 22, of Flemming Street, who was held by police shortly after his car rammed into the bedroom of the house where the three were sleeping, was subsequently released from custody after he passed a breathalyser test.