‘My child’s father was not alien’
OCHO RIOS, St Ann — For the past five weeks Simone Cuthbert has been left to ask one painful question, “What about Damion?”
Damion Scott was the third victim in the tragic September 14 motor vehicle crash on Laughlands Highway in St Ann.
Scott is the father of Cuthbert’s 17-year-old son.
The other two victims of the crash were Alex Williams and Stefan Walters, firefighters from the Ocho Rios Fire Station.
“I’m super angry and very distraught. I was at a point where I wanted to lash out on social media because my child’s father was not alien. They keep highlighting two persons, so what about the third person?” Cuthbert asked.
Sometime after 10:00 pm, the car in which 40-year-old Scott was travelling collided with a Toyota Corolla Axio with the firefighters, who were heading home after late-night duties.
Scott was hospitalised but succumbed to his injures the following morning.
His death, Cuthbert went on to explain, has left their son, Daiquayn, mired in grief as he had a tightly knit relationship with his dad.
“They were very close, so my son is not coping so well. He would be in the room crying and [asking] a lot of questions. Other times he is just silent and locked away in his room. I have to force him to eat,” Cuthbert told the Jamaica Observer.
“I’m here being strong for him and taking it day by day, but it is not easy.”
She explained that her son is also not happy that his father’s death has been overshadowed by those of the firefighters.
“It makes my son feel some type of way, too, because he is on social media seeing the rounds and he keeps saying, ‘My daddy was a part of this, so how comes nobody is saying nothing about him.’ It just feels like his father meant so much to him but nothing to the world because nobody even tried to put anything out there about him,” she said.
“He was a person just like the firefighters. He had plans, he had others who loved and cared for him also.”
Scott, she said, was a “super dad” who did all he could for his child.
“My son depended on him because he was a great father figure. He ensured that he was well taken care of, get an education, and always have things he needed,” said Cuthbert.
“He was a fashionista; he loved to dress up and found his appearance to be very important, and he did the same for his son.
“He mattered a lot to his child, and my son has no other sibling, so it is a lot for him. It’s a lot to be planning funeral and all now,” added Cuthbert.
She expects that November 17, Scott’s birthday, will be particularly hard for his son.
“They usually go to the movies, both of them going shopping or he get some gadgets for them. For this year he was planning for both of them to go out and enjoy the day,” said a mournful Cuthbert.