Senior Multimedia Reporter
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Overwhelmed by grief, grandmother Joyce Grant-Roberts recalled how she could not bear to see the faces of her granddaughters who spent their first Christmas without their father, Kern Etienne, following his horrific death at a WASA jobsite.
Etienne was buried alive inside a trench.
The girls—Kiara, 15, and Kimora, 5—were inconsolable on Christmas Day. Their father had been the sole breadwinner and their mother who suffers from a back injury has been trying to foot the family’s bills.
Etienne’s last paycheck at WASA was never paid and the family has not received any NIS or Workman’s Compensation.
Speaking to Guardian Media, Grant-Roberts broke down in tears as she relived the haunting memory of her granddaughters’ sorrow. Avoiding the gaze of those innocent faces resembling her son’s, Joyce said she has been enduring personal agony, worsened by what she called WASA’s contemptuous behaviour.
“Nothing, not even a phone call. After the wake, everybody like they forget us and everything just sweep under the carpet. For Christmas, no calls, nothing. No messages. It’s like I’m awaiting trial,” she said.
Wiping away tears, she added, “Christmas was very hard, real hard without my son. I just can’t take it anymore. It’s really hard without my child.
“To get up Christmas morning and he not there to eat a plate of food or to hear his jokes. My other son, his twin, broke down in tears when he went to check on the children. Forty days gone and not a word,” she said.
Grant-Roberts alleged that it was negligence on WASA’s part that caused Etienne’s death. She vowed to visit the authority’s St Joseph office next week.
“I want to ask them if they enjoyed their Christmas. I want to ask them if they forget Kern’s children,” she said. The distraught grandmother revealed that both granddaughters had been facing difficulties since the death of their father.
“They not coping, they really missing their father and to see Christmas morning their father is not around to give them a gift. Sometimes I feel I can’t face them because they look like my son. I can’t handle this. I cannot handle it at all,” she wept.
Cousin Alison Bailey said she too had a difficult Christmas.
“I consoled myself by remembering the good times we had. He had a nickname for me. It was always laughter and joy with Kern. It was remembering that laughter that took me through on Christmas Day,” Bailey said.
Etienne, 39, of Embacadere, San Fernando, died after a mound of dirt collapsed on top of him as he was standing inside a 12-feet trench near the San Fernando Licensing Authority at Cipero Road, near the Cross Crossing Overpass on October 22.
Eight of Etienne’s colleagues frantically clawed through the dirt to try and save him, but by the time he was pulled out, he was severely injured.
A post-mortem at the Point Fortin Hospital by Dr Arlene Rampersad found the primary cause of his death was the transection of the thoracic spine. The police said it meant the injuries to the spinal cord were fatal.
WASA, the Occupational Safety and Health Authority and Agency and the police conducted investigations following the tragedy.
Guardian Media yesterday reached out to WASA acting CEO Kelvin Romain, who said the probe into Etienne’s death is coming to an end and should be presented to WASA’s board of commissioners in two weeks’ time. He said WASA’s HR team has been in touch with the family and advised them of the documents needed to commence proceedings related to his estate. Romain said WASA will ensure the proceedings are expedited once the documents are submitted.
