For the past three months Colleen Roper struggled with not being able to bury her eldest son, 23-year-old Sanjay “Neiko” Davis.

Roper had been traumatised by her inability to source the money to bury her son, and this was made worse by the fact that the man responsible for her son’s death is yet to turn himself in, or be held by police.

Davis, a maintenance worker, was hit from his motorbike by a truck on Friday, May 28.

According to the police, Davis was driving the motorcycle east along the St Margaret’s Bay main road sometime after 5:00 pm when he was hit from his bike by the truck, which was heading in the opposite direction.

Davis was pronounced dead by a doctor on spot, while the driver of the truck fled the scene. The Portland police have since issued an appeal for him to turn himself in.

A frustrated Roper told the Jamaica Observer that her heart breaks a little more each day, as there is no news of an arrest.

“It is more than three months now. This man is out there living his life and my son is not here. I couldn’t get around to getting the money [to bury him]. That is why it was taking so long. We just sort out the date for the funeral and it was yesterday, August 27. We had the grave digging on the 25th,” said a tearful Roper yesterday.

She said she is awakened most nights by what she believes is the sound of her son’s bike approaching her house in Mount Pleasant, Portland. But her happiness fades each time she realises that her son will never return home.

“…And then I just cry, especially at night-time when he would be coming in after work, because a that a him style. I am expecting him to come home at this time but him cyaa come home.”

Roper recalled calling her son when she heard about an accident, not knowing that he was the victim.

“I was in Port Antonio and him come look fi mi. Him get a work call and him seh him a go Black Hill before him come up. So mi reach home before him. I was taking off my clothes when my other son come and seh him hear people a seh somebody crash. Him seh, ‘Call Neiko and see if him good.’ So mi take up the phone and call him and mi nuh get him. Mi seh maybe him a ride, so him cyaa talk,” Roper related while wiping tears from her eyes.

“One of my friends carried me down there and dem seh a Neiko. He still had on his helmet and his bike was under the back wheel of the truck,” she continued, describing Davis as the breadwinner for the family.

“Him a mi oldest son and him always come and give us money. We can’t stop talk about him. I have three more boys. They have been taking it hard same way. Neiko would come in and give his little brother money. Him nuh give nuh trouble. Him not even cuss bad word. Him not even smoke,” declared Roper.

She said she hasn’t heard anything from the police in the last two months regarding the investigation, but head of the police’s communications unit Senior Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay told the Jamaica Observer that the investigation is ongoing.

In the meantime, Deon Sing, Davis’s cousin, told the Sunday Observer that the family needs closure.

“It seems a bit strange. We have heard nothing from the police in terms of the [crash] report since the accident. It seems rather odd that after two months a mother has lost her child and we have heard nothing from the authorities in regards to the procedures with the driver or the owner of the truck. We are of the opinion that there is something hideous going on. Everything is looking very strange and very odd,” said Sing.

“It has demoralised the family entirely. The mother is having nightmares every single night, and no one has come forward to say, ‘Listen, your son was wrong or right.’ Nothing at all,” added Sing.

A receipt obtained by the Sunday Observer showed that Roper paid for the motor vehicle accident report on July 19. However, Lindsay said the report is likely to be ready within approximately six weeks after the family pays for the report.

“They applied for the accident report on July 19, 2021 and the report can take anywhere up to six weeks. Sometimes it’s even longer depending on what they [police] know. In this case, it was a hit and run, so sometimes the investigation isn’t clear-cut. Sometimes people will tell you that they don’t want to come in to give a statement and so on, so it depends on the situation, and it takes time,” Lindsay explained.

That, though, has not satisfied Sing, who said the family has considered seeking legal counsel, but the police report is needed before that avenue can be explored.

“We cannot seek any legal action until we receive the police report. Because, if it is that the police report is saying that my cousin was wronged, then we can take legal action. If it is that he [the driver] was right, there’ll be no need for legal action. What will happen is that maybe the insurance will cover something,” said Sing.