ANTHONY McKenzie is finding it hard to cope with the death of his only son, Richard, who was killed while cleaning the inside of a concrete mixer on Saturday.

“Me never even get fi talk to him,” McKenzie said as he stood outside the door of his apartment in Majesty Gardens, Kingston yesterday. “Me get a call say somebody turn on the machine he was cleaning and him get hurt, so me get a car and go over deh, but when me reach them tell me seh them carry him gone a public (Kingston Public Hospital),” said McKenzie.

According to the police, at approximately 1:00 pm Richard, 27, who was employed to the Danish construction Company, E Pihl & Son for a little over a year, was cleaning the inside of a concrete mixer when it was switched on. He was injured by the blades and was taken to the hospital where he was admitted in serious condition. However, he died hours later.

McKenzie told the Observer that he spent three hours at the hospital waiting to hear about his son’s condition.

“The doctor come and tell me that him left leg was bruck up and him loose 80 per cent of him blood so him have a 50/50 per cent chance fi live,” he said.

McKenzie said he left the hospital still hoping that his son would pull through, but on Sunday he received the sad news that his son had died.

“Him is me only son,” he said, still obviously shaken by his son’s death. “Him quiet and don’t get into trouble no matter what happening round here,” he added.

McKenzie, who was also employed to E Pihl for four years, said his heart became full when his son’s co-workers told him that when the incident occurred, Richard’s last words were: “‘Why this happen to me. I would rather die’.”

Meantime, Richard’s uncle-in-law, George Higgs, said Richard left in high spirits about 6:00 Saturday morning after completing one of his daily rituals before he left for work.

“Him get up bout 5 o’clock and put him self together and before him leave him read him Psalms, but him always try to make sure that him never late for work,” Higgs said as he sat in a chair facing a balcony in the apartment building.

Higgs said scores of Richard’s co-workers visited his house yesterday offering condolence to the family.

McKenzie, in the meantime, blamed his son’s death on negligence, saying Richard would not have gone into the machine to clean it had he known it would be switched on.

“The way I understand it is that him was in there cleaning out the mixer up in a top section, but the control for it was down the bottom part,” he said. The Observer was unable to get a comment from the company on the matter.