Plans to own a home and further her education died with WPC Rashma Sirjudeen when she and her 13-month-old son, Rahul, and mother, Una Samkarran, were killed in Friday’s crash in Debe.
Sirjudeen, 26, who was stationed at the Ste Madeleine Police Station, was expected to finish paying off next year for the Kia Cerato sedan which collided with a three-tonne truck along the M2 Ring Road. Her uncle Ricardo Dass said her plan was, after paying off for the vehicle, to begin the search for a home of her own.
“She wanted her own home and she was paying off for the car so when she finished those payments next year, she would have started looking for a house. That was her goal. Everything she did in life, we had a part to play in it, even taking her for her interview to join the Police Service. She had an opportunity to get into nursing around the same time, but she embraced the Police Service.
“She did O’Levels and did a diploma in computer literacy and she was looking forward to furthering her education. She stopped when she got pregnant but she had a plan,” Dass said.
Speaking at the family’s Kent Street, Williamsville, home yesterday, Dass said Sirjudeen stayed at a family home just three houses away. According to Dass, when Rahul was born Samkarran quit her job as a domestic worker and moved in to help care for the child.
“The relationship between Rashma and her mom was very good and probably that is why their deaths happened together like that. Her mom sacrificed a lot for her to be where she is today. The family is really traumatised and for us it is not one death, but three. Everyone loved this infant, Una was my sister and I knew Rashma all her life,” he said.
Relatives recalled how happy Rahul was as a baby, adding that his birthday last month was celebrated with cake and ice cream. He even recalled that when Sirjudeen was born, doctors told them that she had died. Police, he said, later came to their home and took Samkarran to the hospital because they found out her baby daughter was not dead.
Dass said no one knew where the family was going that fateful day, only speculating that they might have been heading to Debe where Samkarran does part-time domestic work.
He said Sirjudeen’s estranged husband, Rakesh Sirjudeen, could not bear to look at their bodies nor read the newspapers.
He said the accident could have been caused by Sirjudeen’s car skidding before hitting the truck. Dass said she always exercised proper road safety, especially with Rahul in the vehicle
An autopsy on the three victims will be done at the Forensic Science Centre tomorrow.